Abbott: Number of People Crossing Border ‘Will Grow Tenfold and a Hundredfold,’ We Can’t Get Info on Health Status or to Catch Smugglers

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) stated that the number of people coming across the border “will grow tenfold and a hundredfold,” and that the state can’t get access to information on the health situation of children who have entered the U.S. or information so they can arrest and prosecute smugglers.

Abbott said, “This is just the very beginning of what’s going to be a massive expansion of the number of people coming across the border. It will grow tenfold and a hundredfold, especially because of the way the Biden administration has handled this. Remember, during the presidential campaign when all of the candidates said we want open borders? Well, guess what? Biden has provided those open borders. He’s inviting everybody in and the floodgates are now open and Texas is at the forefront of it.”

He added, “The Biden administration is not being transparent with either the governor of Texas or the Texas Department of State Health Services. We need to know what the health situation of these kids are. We need to know if they’ve been exposed to variants of COVID, and if so, is it the Brazilian variant or whatever type of variants. Our law enforcement, the Texas Department of Public Safety, they need to do their job. Part of their job is making sure they track down and prosecute anybody involved in smuggling. Once the kids get over to the state of Texas, they are still involved with coyotes and smugglers and people like that that we do have the ability to arrest and put behind bars. The Biden administration is not letting us gain access to that information so that we can arrest and prosecute those who are assisting this immigration process.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett