Immigration
Texas Governor hires ‘border czar’ to accelerate wall construction
Enough is enough for Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott and his state’s suffering due to the Biden administration’s failure to secure the southern border. With no help from the federal government and the White House turning a blind eye to the migrant crisis, Abbott has decided to hire a “border czar.”
Governor Abbott announced that recently retired Border Patrol agent Mike Banks will be appointed “border czar” and work with the Texas National Guard and state troopers to find solutions to deter migrants from crossing the border illegally.
In a news conference Monday, Abbott introduced Banks, who retired only ten days earlier, to “tap his expertise to deploy strategies that reduce illegal immigration and keep our community safe.” Amongst his goals is to “accelerate the building of the border wall in Texas.”
Banks said his top priority in his new job “is to make the state of Texas the least desirable place for illegal immigration to cross. I don’t think it’s going to be that difficult. … We just need to be more aggressive.”
Abbott discussed the border wall construction by the state and said his office calculated that the state is spending $25 million per mile of the wall to be built.
The Texas Tribune reports “So far, the state has erected a 1.7-mile stretch of wall on state-owned land in Starr County, part of a $162 million contract awarded to New York-based Posillico Civil Inc. in November 2021 to build eight miles of wall. Posillico Civil began another segment of wall in December in Los Indios in Cameron County.”
Immigration
FL authorities seize boat carrying Haitian illegals, guns and drugs; on high alert after mass prison break
Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announced Friday that authorities have seized a vessel off the coast that was carrying Haitian illegals, guns, and drugs. “Our Florida Fish and Wildlife offices interdicted a vessel that had 25 illegal immigrants, potential illegal immigrants from Haiti in their boat. In their vessel they had firearms, they had drugs, they had night vision gear and were boating very recklessly, which would potentially endanger other folks,” the governor said, reported by Fox News.
“That vessel was interdicted near the Sebastian Inlet and those illegal aliens were turned over to the Coast Guard for deportation,” DeSantis added. The Sebastian Inlet is a narrow waterway north of Vero Beach that links the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Lagoon.
Just The News notes Haiti’s recent unrest:
Haitian gangs staged a mass prison break and freed roughly 3,700 inmates. Prime Minister Ariel Henry subsequently resigned and the chaos has prompted concerns of a surge in maritime attempts at entry into the U.S.
DeSantis ordered the deployment of more than 250 personnel to the southern coast of Florida ahead of the expect surge in attempted Haitian entries last week. In January of last year, DeSantis activated the National Guard to aid federal authorities in responding to a surge in arrivals to the Florida Keys from Cuba, Haiti, and other Caribbean nations.
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