The Biden Administration's border policies have been ineffective according to authorities in Texas, who claim that border crime is "out of control."
Kelly Janica, Jackson County sheriff, held Biden and his administration directly responsible for the border crisis: "Biden Administration policies have been an unmitigated disaster," he said, asserting that he has never seen anything like the crime coming from the border in his entire career.
According to a report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), nearly five million illegal immigrants have entered the United States since Biden took office. Customs and Border Protection reported that 2,493,723 illegal immigrants were apprehended in from October 2021 to August 2022.
Texas has long been a hotbed for illegal immigration. In fact, this is not the first time that authorities in the Lone Star State have described their immigration situation as an invasion and asked for federal assistance.
Operation Lone Star
In response to the Biden Administration's inaction, Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched and pushed Operation Lone Star (OLS) in 2021, which provided state law enforcement with better resources. With this mission, law enforcement officers cooperate to act against crime. The objective is to stop the trafficking of illegal immigrants and intercept drugs. Sheriff Janica joined the thousands of law enforcement and military personnel that make up this task force to crack down on cartel activity.
Janica points out that the funds provided by Gregg Abbott in the Lone Star operation have made the job easier:
Without OLS, we wouldn’t be able to work together in the way that we have. The counties can’t afford to provide technology that we’ve been using over the last year. Without Operation Lone Star funds, there’s no way we would be able to do what we’re doing.
Harris County, "ground zero"
One of the most common crimes is vehicle theft. Sheriff Janica pointed out that these cars are coming from Harris County, where Operation Lone Star has no jurisdiction. They are then used by the cartels to transport illegal immigrants from the border:
All of the stolen vehicles being used are coming out of Harris County. Cartels are paying fugitives to drive them to the border to pick up illegal aliens and bring them back north to Houston.
Because the task force launched by Governor Abbott has no jurisdiction in counties like Harris, Sheriff Janica considers it "ground zero" for the cartels: "Harris County is ‘ground zero’ for where everyone is going. It’s a ‘sanctuary community;’ the cartels know it." He went on, "Once they get past Wharton County, they have a free shot."
Increased federal spending
Sheriffs across the country are asking the Biden Administration for a major effort to combat border crime and deport those who have entered illegally.
According to a survey by The Marshall Project, 69.5% of sheriffs strongly agree that federal spending on border security and illegal immigration prevention should be increased. Only 2.4% disagreed or strongly disagreed with this initiative.
Republican Party demands "transparency"
Republican Congressional Representatives Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Tom McClintock (California) asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release immigration figures for the month of September and the entire fiscal year.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Majorkas and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus, the Republican representatives demanded transparency from the Biden Administration:
We write to ask why you have not yet published the CBP data about illegal alien encounters on the southwest border for September 2022 and the entire Fiscal Year 2022. We understand that the Biden Administration may hope to keep the official number of illegal alien encounters along the southwest border a secret from the American public for as long as possible for obvious political reasons. However, the American people deserve transparency, not political games.
Twenty days into October and the Biden Administration has yet to release the data. Jordan and McClintock noted that under the Trump Administration, Congress had access to immigration data every week:
During the Trump Administration, CBP released border apprehension statistics to Members of Congress on a weekly basis. The Biden CBP has been providing border apprehension data to Congress on a monthly basis. As of today, however, the Biden Administration has not released its September 2022 data. This delay is unacceptable.
