Mayors and county judges who serve along the Texas border with Mexico have reacted to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s calls for more border security in the wake of the Brussels terrorist attack.
Just hours after the attack in the Brussels international airport that left more than 30 people dead, Trump told Fox News, “I would close up our borders to people until we figure out what’s going on.”
“We have to be very, very vigilant with who we let into this country. We are taking in people without real documentation,” Trump continued.
Many would think a prevention measure like that would be welcomed, but a group of Texas mayors and county judges have disagreed with the New York businessman. The so-called non-partisan Texas Border Coalition, made up of almost entirely Democrat mayors and elected officials, covers towns along the Texas/Mexico border from El Paso to Brownsville.
The group claims that Trump’s plan would do little to actually improve domestic security, the Washington Examiner’s Joseph Lawler reported. “Closing our land border with Mexico would be a ridiculous staging of security theater: the practice of false efforts intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to actually achieve it,” TBC Chairman J.D. Salinas said in a written statement obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Salinas praised the work being done by Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement people who are working to secure the border and protect the country from the flood of drugs, criminals, and many foreign nationals who come from countries in the Middle East. “The story of the men and women protecting the Southwest border is a success story: seizing more currency, drugs, and weapons than ever.”
The group; however, has worked hard against measures to help protect American cities. On its website, the group claims as a success its efforts to block sanctuary city legislation that could save the lives of many who are killed by criminal illegal aliens who are released back into the general population instead of being held for deportation. They also claim to have worked against repealing in-state tuition for the illegal immigrant children. This program is considered by many to be one of the main magnets to entice unaccompanied minors and incomplete families to cross the borders as they have been doing in massive numbers.
Last month, Breitbart Texas reported the numbers of illegal crossings by unaccompanied alien children and incomplete family units had increased dramatically – in some locations as much as 171 percent.
It is clear that Mexicans and Central Americans are not the only ones seeking to illegally cross the border into the United States. In November 2015, Breitbart Texas’ managing director Brandon Darby and border security journalist Ildefonso Ortiz reported that 8 Syrian refugees had shown up at the international bridge in Laredo. Just a few days later, five more Syrians arrived at the same crossing.
In between those two incidents five Pakistani men and one man from Afghanistan were captured in southern Arizona, 16 miles from the border.
The porous border clearly allows anyone from any country with any intention to enter the United States at will. Another example of this is the recent trend where thousands of Cuban refugees have made their way from Cuba to Central America, to Mexico to cross the border into South Texas.
Trump has called for a temporary halt to Muslims until such time as an effective background screening system can be developed. He again this week, called for the borders to be secured to prevent the unfettered access to this nation by people with intent to do harm.
Salinas and his members disagree. “The Southwest border security team needs more resources, not false efforts that harm morale and the economy,” Salinas concluded. He did not mention the impact a terrorist attack would have on “morale and the economy.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.