Texas Plans To Build Its Own Border Barriers To Have Pathway ‘Directly Into A Jail Cell’

Texas Governor Greg Abbott told Breitbart in an exclusive interview that the state would begin constructing border barriers in regions where migrants may easily cross the Rio Grande into Mexico.

State law enforcement will be able to arrest migrants for violating state law in part because of the barriers.

Governor Abbott told Breitbart Texas moments before Thursday’s border conference in Del Rio, Texas, that “the influx across the border is out of control,” and that “the Biden Administration has shown that it is not going to step up and do its job. And amidst reports of even more people coming in across the border, we know we have to step up and do more.”

Abbott said that Texas would immediately begin building border barriers in regions such as Del Rio, where migrants can easily enter unprotected areas of the Mexican border. Because of the enormous surge in illicit border crossings in this area, the governor designated Del Rio for the Border Summit. Del Rio Sector agents captured 27,890 migrants, up 1,118 percent over the 2,289 recorded in May 2020, according to Breitbart Texas.

The governor added, “The reason we are here (Del Rio) is because of the massive increase.” He said that border crossings used to be very “concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley.”

“Now, you know we’re upstream from the Rio Grande Valley in the Del Rio Sector and the Del Rio sector is suffering from some of the largest increases,” Gov. Abbott also explained.

Community members, government leaders, and law enforcement officers are reporting seeing things they’ve never seen before, he added.

Abbott said, “They’re seeing a lot of very bad, dangerous people come across the border. People that they are afraid of encountering, people who are causing damage to their fences, their livestock, their crops, their neighborhoods, and their homes.”

“Bad things are happening around here, and so they need help from the state to help them address this exploding crisis,” he added.

Authorities will utilize existing state laws, as well as the powers granted by the State of Emergency declaration issued earlier this month, to come down hard on anyone illegally crossing the border and causing chaos along the route, according to the governor.

“What people have seen in videos across the country seems to be the Biden Administration welcoming these people to the United States. We won’t be sending that message,”Abbott stated.

“If you come to Texas, you’re subject to being arrested. You’re not going to have a pathway to roam the country. You’re going to have a pathway directly into a jail cell,” the governor said.

“We want to be very aggressive in working with local officials and begin making mass arrests. In working in collaboration with a large number of counties — that means we’re going to be arresting a lot more people,”Abbott stated.

According to the governor, this will require the construction of many additional jails around the state.

The obstacles, according to the governor, serve two purposes in the fight against unlawful border crossings. Physical deterrent is the first and the second is, “If they (migrants) move or interfere with that barrier, they have committed several crimes.”

Criminal mischief, vandalism of state or local government property, and criminal trespass are among the crimes.

Furthermore, the State of Texas’ recent announcement of a State of Emergency has increased the penalty for these violations by one degree.

“That means up to 180 days in jail. Something that may be a Class B misdemeanor right now, turned into a class A misdemeanor. And so they can get into a lot of trouble.” Abbott added.