Construction workers are actively working on the border wall in Donna, Texas on June 29, 2021. (Nexstar Photo/Maggie Glynn)
WESLACO, Texas (Nexstar) — Former Pres. Donald Trump will join Gov. Greg Abbott in the Rio Grande Valley Wednesday for a border security briefing.
After the briefing at noon, Trump will then join Abbott for a tour of an unfinished section of the border wall.
In response to the influx in illegal migrant crossings in recent months, Abbott launched ‘Operation Lone Star’ back in March, which surged thousands of extra law enforcement officers to the border.
Dimmit County landowner Emily King said she’s noticed the difference since then.
“The amount of vehicle bailouts that we’ve seen up and down our driveway and the highway that runs right in front of us is crazy. So March, April, there were a ton of them. And now we have a lot more state troopers, I think there’s maybe one every mile on the highway that is in front of us,” King said.
Earlier this month, he announced the operation will also allow the state to continue building its own wall along our southern border.
Landowners like King are hoping the governor will announce more help is on the way, beyond just building the wall.
“More people on the ground, more overhead resources, like helicopters, I would just say like more technology for our law enforcement agents to use,” King said, explaining she’s also concerned about burnout among local law enforcement officials in the coming months.
Political experts, though, think the event Wednesday is more of just a photo-op.
“I do think that we’re getting a little bit of that political theater, not only in the way that the governor is addressing immigration, using the state-funded efforts on a border wall as part of his efforts towards re-election, and certainly the White House is aware of what immigration means in terms of democratic policies,” Dr. Richard Pineda with the University of Texas at El Paso explained.
Last Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris made a trip to the border in El Paso but was criticized for not coming to the Rio Grande Valley.
The southern-most sector has had more illegal crossings than any other along our border.
During Wednesday’s events at the border, back in Austin, Democrats will be hosting a press conference, criticizing the governor’s briefing and explaining he should be focused on other issues instead, like the state’s power grid.
Credit: Source link
