by Jen Snow December 28, 2022
While most of the US spent time with family and enjoyed a long weekend for Christmas, the Texas National Guard was building a triple-strand concertina fence “to secure the area from illegal crossings,” according to a tweet posted by the Texas Military Department.
Major General Ronald “Win” Burkett said of the 72-hour Christmas mission, “They’re focused on deterrence, they’re focused on sending a message that unlawful crossings is not an option. You’ve got to go to the POE (Port of Entry).”
The border project began Saturday morning with the Texas Air National Guard flying 400 soldiers and equipment into El Paso on four C-130 aircraft.Between Saturday morning at 4 a.m. when work started and Tuesday morning, the National Guard had erected 2 miles of the triple-level wire barrier along the riverbank in El Paso. The Guardsmen will be erecting more of the barrier over the coming days.
In the past week, almost 6,000 illegal migrants were released by Border Patrol either to NGOs or into the city, according to El Paso’s Migrant Situational Awareness Dashboard. Over 10,000 border crossers were released the week prior.
El Paso was not the only part of the Texas border to receive reinforcement. Parts of the Texas-Mexican border also had razor-wire fencing built along parts of the border by the National Guard.
Other parts of the state are also using shipping containers as border barriers. With the Biden administration refusing to visit the border, much less address the illegal immigration issue, the state of Texas is turning to any resources it can find to secure its borders against the flood of illegal migrants pouring into the US from Mexico.
While Texas might not have a permanent solution to its massive migrant issue, it did get a bit of relief Tuesday when the Supreme Court agreed to stay ending Title 42 until oral arguments can be heard regarding the emergency application that was filed. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is certainly not waiting for federal assistance and is instead using the stay as an opportunity to secure his state’s border as much as possible before Title 42 potentially ends in June.
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