BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Governor Greg Abbott spoke from the Texas/Mexico border Friday about border security efforts.
The governor is in Brownsville for his remarks, where he will be joined by the Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, Texas Military Department Brigadier General Matthew Barker, and Texas Border Czar Mike Banks.
This comes more than a week after the end of Title 42, which allowed the U.S. to send migrants back across the U.S./Mexico border in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. With that policy coming to an end, some predicted it would lead to an influx of migrants crossing the border, but numbers show that has not been seen.
As of Thursday, San Antonio’s online dashboard shows a gradual decrease in new migrant arrivals since Title 42 ended one week earlier.
At the event, Governor Abbott announced he is making several efforts to increase border security, including a bill he is hoping to pass that would impose penalties for crossing the Texas border.
"One is that we are seeking to make it a crime for anyone to cross into the state of Texas illegally. We will be able to begin arresting people for crossing into our statee," Gov. Abbott said.
When reporters asked him to respond to people who would call that policy discriminatory, he repeated that the policy is about border security.
"This is the state of Texas and we have every right to secure our border and that is exactly what we are doing," Gov. Abbott said.
New rules were also put in place last week that affects how people can apply for asylum in the U.S.
“President Biden created a new rule called the transit ban that’s said that basically you have to apply for asylum in another country that you’ve crossed before asking for asylum in the United States,” Immigration attorney Gerardo Menchaca said.
