Megan Udinski, FISM News
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Governor Greg Abbott of Texas announced an agreement to secure the Texas/Mexico border and increase the protection of the citizens of his state.
Gov. Abbott alongside the governor of the free state of Nuevo Leon, Samuel Sepulveda, cosigned a memorandum Wednesday which took effect immediately.
Today, I reached an historic agreement with Nuevo León's Gov. García.
Together, we will enhance border security measures.
As Biden does NOTHING, Texas will continue to secure the border & work with Mexico to seek solutions. pic.twitter.com/BuDbTgezSO
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 13, 2022
The memorandum is in response to the Biden administration’s announcement that it plans to end the Title 42 order on May 23 which made provisions for the federal government to turn away immigrants at the border without the opportunity to seek asylum due to the pandemic.
With the signing of the agreement, Abbott stated, “Until Biden enforces immigration laws, Texas will continue to use its own strategies to secure the border.”
The document states that Texas and Nuevo León will work cooperatively to “reduce the number of threats to the public, by vehicles approaching the border, and the corresponding need for enhanced safety inspections.” It further reads that the cooperation is desperately needed as inspections have revealed that “almost 25% of the vehicles that crossed into Texas are unsafe.”
The CDC and Department of Homeland Security released a statement explaining the decision to end the Trump-instituted order was made because “97.1% of the U.S. population lives in a county identified as having ‘low’ COVID-19 Community Level,” and because DHS has increased mitigation efforts including having means to vaccinate migrants and preparing temporary shelters that can house up to 18,000 per day.
Since the announcement Gov. Abbott has taken several steps to secure the border and pressure Biden to do more, including bussing immigrants from Texas to Washington D.C.
He explained, “To help local officials whose communities are being overwhelmed with hordes of illegal immigrants who are being dropped off by the Biden administration, Texas is providing charter buses to send these illegal immigrants who have been dropped off by the Biden administration to …to the United States capital where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”
Abbott and Sepulveda stated that they believe they would mutually benefit from the order as it would decrease the amount of human and drug trafficking at the border. “This historic memorandum of understanding between Texas and Nuevo León is a major step in the Lone Star State’s efforts to secure the border in the federal government’s absence,” championed Abbott.
Many on the left have countered the moves, saying that Abbott is adding to inflation and supply chain difficulties rather than protecting his constituents. White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated in a press release, “Governor Abbott’s unnecessary and redundant inspections of trucks transiting ports of entry between Texas and Mexico are causing significant disruptions to the food and automobile supply chains, delaying manufacturing, impacting jobs, and raising prices for families in Texas and across the country.”
The press release proclaiming the implementation of this memorandum expressed that governors from other locations such as “Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, as well as the Chief Officer for the North American Unit at the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, have been in contact with the Office of the Governor and the Texas Secretary of State about signing similar memorandums.”