A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety ripped the Biden administration for ordering Border Patrol agents to cut a fence on the border.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas posted video of the agents appearing to cut a barbed-wire fence and lowering a rope for some illegal immigrants Wednesday, saying the Biden administration ordered the agents to do so and that he had directed the National Guard to rebuild the barrier.
The state has been in a legal battle with the Biden administration over barriers erected by state agencies to reduce or deter illegal immigration.
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“This is something we have seen before, Border Patrol agents cutting the concertina wire that we have placed as a state as a deterrent to try to prevent illegal border crossings. This is not the fault of the border patrol agents. The field agents are doing tremendous work under just challenging circumstances but they are getting orders from the administration to do this,” Lt. Chris Olivarez told Fox News host Laura Ingraham as she replayed the video Abbott posted. “And it puts these agents in a predicament now where they are being forced by the administration to go against what they completely signed up for, and that is to protect our borders and to focus on criminal activity, not to cut concertina wire and allow mass illegal immigration into our state, especially in Texas.”
Abbott said Thursday that National Guardsmen were in Eagle Pass, Texas, replacing the concertina wire that had been removed.
“That’s what we are seeing play out. It puts these agents in a predicament and situations where they shouldn’t be and it all falls on poor leadership,” Olivarez continued. “That’s why we need strong leadership. We saw that in 2021 … We have thousands coming across. You have criminals coming across, suspected terrorists, cartel gunmen coming across our borders unimpeded. The border was secured prior to 2021. It’s in complete disarray right now.”
A surge of illegal immigrants crossed the border this, including a group of over 2,000 at Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday that was caught on video.
“Another challenge we have to face is not only going after criminal organizations and trying to deter illegal immigration, but now we are having to go against our own government trying to stop us to try to put some type of deterrent measure in place to prevent unauthorized border crossings,” Olivarez said.
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Over 1.6 million illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2023, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection, following 2.2 million encounters in fiscal year 2022 and 1.6 million in fiscal year 2021, while Fox News reported another 600,000 migrants evaded CBP in fiscal year 2022.
Abbott and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona began busing migrants to New York City and other so-called “sanctuary” cities in 2022.
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