President Joe Biden vowed to stop construction on former President Donald Trump’s massive border wall project.
But that may not stop the wall from going up: Texas just announced an effort to go it alone by starting its own border construction.
“The Biden Administration has abandoned its responsibilities to secure the border and Texans are suffering as a result,” Gov. Greg Abbott,R, said in a news release.
He announced a $250 million “down payment” on an unprecedented public/private project to secure the border with a wall built not by the feds… but by Texas itself.
That wall would protect a border that’s seen a surge in illegal crossings since Biden took office in January.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said 180,034 persons were caught crossing on May alone, more than six times the number apprehended in May 2020.
While last year’s numbers were artificially low due to the surging pandemic, the new figures still represent a two-decade high.
What’s more, the agency admitted that it keeps catching many of the same people — a sign deterrence efforts aren’t working as many of those caught are sent back to Mexico, and then immediately return to the border to try again.
That’s led to a major humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border, one that’s not just built around desperate migrants seeking a new life but human traffickers, drug lords and other criminal elements.
Sen. Ted Cruz called out Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for ignoring the border nightmare in hopes the rest of the nation would ignore it, too.
“Their only hope is that people don’t notice the crime that is coming in, the vandalism that is coming in, the public health threat that we’re seeing,” he said on the Senate floor. “This is not compassionate. It’s not humane. This chaos is wrong, and it’s time to end.”
But so far, the Biden administration has shown no signs of acting.
And that’s led to Abbott’s move.
“In the federal government’s absence, Texas is stepping up to get the job done,” he said at a news conference. “We will build a wall, we will secure the border, but most importantly we will restore safety to citizens who live in the lone star state.”
Abbott is demanding that the Biden administration return Texas land seized during the Trump administration for border wall construction back to the original owners.
Then, he said, Texas will negotiate for the use of that land for the new wall effort.
“I believe based upon conversations that I’ve already had is that the combination of state land as well as volunteer land will yield hundreds of miles to build a border wall in Texas,” Abbott said.
In another unusual move, Abbott has also launched a website allowing private citizens to make cash donations to help fund the project, which would ultimately cost billions if those hundreds of miles of border wall are to be constructed.
He did not reveal a timeline for construction, but said the first step — hiring a project manager to oversee the effort – is under way right now.
While the Biden administration remains opposed, even many Democrats admit there’s a problem – and that something needs to be done.
Laredo, Tex., Mayor Pete Saenz, D, opposes a wall, but says he also opposes inaction.
“We remain open to hearing more information because there’s definitely a problem at the border,” Saenz told the Washington Post. “If the federal government is not doing it, then someone has to do it.”
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert.