The video titled “With barricades, soldiers and new laws, Texas tries to deter illegal border crossings” sheds light on the ongoing battle between Texas and the federal government over immigration issues. Governor Greg Abbott’s operation Lone Star has seen a deployment of thousands of police and soldiers, along with barriers, to deter illegal crossings along the Texas border. The state government has challenged the federal government’s authority, arguing that it has failed in its obligation to secure the border.
The video captures the scenes at Shelby Park, a hotspot for illegal border crossings, where soldiers from the Texas National Guard are shown trying to prevent migrants from entering the US. The contentious new law signed by Governor Abbott allows Texas law enforcement agencies to arrest migrants for illegal crossing, further escalating the conflict.
Former President Trump and President Biden have both visited the southern border in Texas, highlighting the importance of immigration as a key issue in the presidential campaign. However, the ongoing feud between Texas and Washington over immigration policies continues to cause tension and uncertainty at the border.
Watch the video by 60 Minutes
This past week both President Biden and former president Trump visited the southern Border in Texas there’s no denying immigration has become one of the most important and contentious issues in the presidential campaign and there’s no better example of that than the high stakes fight between the state of Texas and the federal government
Three years ago Texas governor Greg Abbott launched operation lonar deploying thousands of police and soldiers and miles of barriers to deter record numbers of illegal Crossings the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that immigration is the job of the federal government but rarely has a state so aggressively challenged that Authority
In January Governor Abbott ordered his State National Guard to block the federal government’s border patrol from Shelby Park a Dusty stretch of Border along the Rio Grand in Eagle Pass Texas to understand why you need to see what happened there in December the story story will continue in a
Moment we were on the banks of the river Before Dawn with soldiers from the Texas National Guard we heard the cries of people before we could see their faces it wasn’t until we moved closer that we realized how many people had just crossed from Mexico the soldiers told them it was
Dangerous to cross here help us They begged some of the women cried we have children we heard groans and found this young man twisting in The Wire he kept Going stay calm they told each other as families pushed their children [Applause] through nearly every everyone we saw made it across and into the United States thousands of people a day crossed here in late December a record for this section of the Texas border there were so many people the US
Border patrol had to transform Shelby Park into an open air Holding Center weeks later once the surge died down Governor Abbott ordered his Texas National Guard to block the federal government’s border patrol from entering the park without permission Governor Abbott argued the federal government had failed to fulfill its
Obligation to the states and in that some heard echos of Texas’s history of rebellion and threats of secession I can’t believe Governor I’m going to ask you this question but I’m I’m going to ask you do you believe that Texas has the right to secede is that what we’re
Talking about here those are false narratives what Texas and the United States have the right to do and that’s to enforce the law you heard the argument against what you’re doing out here each state can’t control its own border policy you’re looking at a completely chaotic system that’s the job
Of the federal government we’re not imposing a Texas border policy Texas very simply is enforcing the laws that are the policy of the United States Congress what gives you the authority to tell the US border patrol what to do for one as governor of the St of Texas I
Have uh the authority to control Ingress and egress uh to any land in the state of Texas uh for another this land we’re on right now was used by the federal government to further illegal activity and I wanted to put a stop to it we went behind the guarded Gates of
Shelby Park in January shortly after Governor Abbott had taken control so this is called an anti- clim barriers Texas Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Christopher Olivares showed us where State national Guardsmen were installing fresh Razer wire barriers along the river help me understand at the heart of this why Texas has a
Problem with the Border Patrol coming in to process migrants in this park the issue is trying to prevent another influx because when border patrols here setting up a processing center it’s going to attract it’s going to encourage more migrants to cross the river because they know where to go it’s one of many
Spots along the Texas border where coils of sharp wire have been going up ever since Governor Abbott launched operation Lone Star in 2021 since then thousands of migrants have been arrested and detained ained on trespassing charges hey stop state troopers have cracked down on human smuggling rings
And the state has spent more than $150 million sending migrants on buses to cities like New York and Chicago turning the trouble at the border into a political and financial headache for Democratic Mayors once the sight of ball games and flea markets Shelby Park is now Governor Abbott’s model of what the
Texas border can be where we are right now there used to be 3,000 or 4,000 people crossing illegally a day for the past 3 days there’s an average of just three people crossing the border illegally you don’t just plan a flag just to plan a flag it’s got to be
Strategic and it’s got to make sense rul Ortiz served as chief of the US border patrol under President Biden and deputy chief under President Trump he retired last year when agencies are making a decision based upon politics or whether they’re going to get media coverage hey
We’re going to put all our Personnel in this 2 m stretch what about the other 200 miles in our interview Ortiz criticized Governor Abbott for not cooperating with the border patrol and playing politics with immigration but he also expressed frustration with President Biden I’ve never had one conversation with the president or the
Vice president for that matter and so I was the chief of the board Patrol I commanded 21,000 people that’s a problem I just saw 50 people today who had just crossed the border illegally so something’s not working we need to make sure that Central America South America Mexico that those regions
Understand that if you pay a Smuggler and you cross in between the ports of entry and you do not have a legitimate claim to some sort of Asylum benefit you’re going to be sent back do you believe that the White House has sent mixed messages to migrants yeah most definitely we
Spoke with Ortiz in an area just four miles south of Shelby Park the ground was littered with wet clothes that migrants had changed out of and left behind after crossing the river does all of this tell you that people are still crossing this river right here oh yeah
The guides or the Smugglers will bring the migrants over this is all very calculated by the cartels that control these areas on the Mexican side about 7 miles north of Shelby Park We Came Upon This group of migrants who had just crossed the Rio Grand and were being picked up by the border
Patrol this mother and her two sons took buses from El Salvador she told us the soldiers on the US side of the Border weren’t much of a deterrent she feared the cartels in Mexico more sometimes they kidnap you and expect payment she said the reality is
People are still going to find a way to get in no matter how much Manpower you have out here no much how much wire you put up this a great complaint yeah cuz in Texas anyway uh we’re going to be barricading every area where people are
Crossing uh until we get every area to have like this area is right now Texas is going to barricade every area what do you mean every area where the cartel is used as a Crossing we intend to be barricading border is going to look like
A war zone it is a war zone over the past 3 years the Biden Administration has carried out 4 million expulsions and deportations more than the Trump Administration but it has also allowed a record three million people to remain in the country for years while their immigration cases are heard and the
Border patrol estimates another 1.6 million people have entered the country illegally without getting caught this past week former president Trump visited Shelby Park with Governor Abbott on the same day President Biden was also at the Texas border in Brown instead of playing politics with the issue why do we just get together and
Get it done President Biden says that if Republicans were serious about securing the Border they would not have rejected a bipartisan immigration deal in the Senate last month after former president Trump opposed it that deal would have increased funding for the border patrol and required the president to expel all
Migrants Crossing illegally during surges like the one at Shelby Park in December the latest battle between Texas and Washington concerns a new law Governor Abbott signed authorizing Texas’s more than 2700 law enforcement agencies to arrest migrants for illegally crossing the border Texas judges could then order migrants to
Return to Mexico or serve time bypassing the federal immigration system entirely critics of the law say it is so broadly written it fails to Define when authorities can stop someone tell me more about we asked Lieutenant olivaris of the Texas Department of Public Safety or PS about the concern that immigrants
And people of color could be subjected to racial profiling I can tell that our Troopers are not going to be stopping cars and checking for immigration status they’re not but this law is not just written for DPS right it’s it’s a Texas law the reality is this is going to be
Carried out far from the border absolutely so couldn’t you get caught up in it your Latino couldn’t I get caught up in it that’s not the case they have to develop problem calls in order to stop a car U you can’t just go interview every single person in that car ask him
For immigration status but of course yeah there could be some issues where maybe some other agency outside of a border area uh could take that into account it’s nous it’s prob because there’s a lot of agencies here in Texas that operate right but I would think that every Chief at a police agency
Would have to implement some type of policy and procedure to actually enforce this new law this past week a federal judge temporarily stop the new law from taking effect while it’s being challenged in court the Department of Justice and the American civil liberties Union are suing Texas arguing the law
Interferes with the federal government’s authority over immigration but Governor Abbott argues Texas is being invaded and has the right to defend itself that idea has resonated with militias and groups opposed to Illegal immigration some joined a convoy last month and descended on the Eagle Pass area everyone I think
Agrees that the immigration system right now is completely broken and there’s a lot of blame to go around but do you really truly believe that invasion is the right word to be using here invasion is the word that’s used in the United States Constitution Invasion or imminent
Danger I use them both and we are in imminent danger because of what the drug cartels do every single day uh because of the known and unknown terrorist who cross every single day so the convoys in militia have heard the language and they’ve started to come to the point
That migrants have had to be relocated from some locations for their own safety are you not concerned about violence happening because of language like the word Invasion there’s no language that would spur violence but I’ll be clear about this we don’t want violence of any
Type how does this end oh it ends very simply and that’s with a president of the United States who will actually fulfill his oath of office and enforce the laws of the United States of America that means deny denying illegal entry into our country do you want to be
Trump’s running mate no what if he asks you listen I love being governor of Texas I can best Aid him in my role by being a great governor of Texas so far the governor has committed more than 11 billion to operation Lone Star over the last three years the percentage of
People entering Texas illegally has dropped while rising in other border states Abbott’s critics say that has more to do with other factors like crackdowns on migration in parts of Mexico there are still more than a million illegal border crossings in Texas every year there are also at least
A dozen lawsuits being fought between Texas and the federal government over immigration issues all that infighting worries former border patrol Chief Raul Ortiz the national Guardsmen uh even to some degree the bitr have become Pawns in this political game between the two sides who’s winning the cartels the criminal organizations that’s who’s
Winning in all of this they’re sitting back reaping all the benefits while they watch the state of Taxas in Washington DC go at it patrolling the border with a Texas state trooper it’s just such a crisis right now and we feel so overwhelmed at 60 minutes overtime.com
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Video “With barricades, soldiers and new laws, Texas tries to deter illegal border crossings” was uploaded on 03/04/2024 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes