Migrant Tally Soars in Eagle Pass Sector
Where Wire Proves Invisible as Deterrent
Capitol Inside
January 27, 2024
The number of migrants that the Border Patrol apprehended in December skyrocketed 66 percent in the Del Rio region where Governor Greg Abbott claims that the state has been holding the line at the border with razor wire that the state has installed there in recent months.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed on Saturday that federal agents detained 125,861 migrants in Texas last month including 71,095 in the Del Rio sector that's anchored by the city of Eagle Pass where Abbott's border mission Operation Lone Star has been concentrated up to now. The migrant apprehension count in the Del Rio-Eagle Pass area was up more than 86 percent last month over the total that the federal agency recorded there in October.
Abbott insisted this week that the concertina coils are an effective deterrent for illegal immigration after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Border Patrol could tear down the razor wire that the state has erected on the banks of the river that separates Texas from Mexico. But the December tally raises the specter that the Republican governor here has been badly misinformed about the wire fencing's efficacy.
The new apprehensions tally makes it appear that the massive attention that Abbott has garnered from his razor wire infatuation has been a magnet for migrants in Eagle Pass - the epicenter of the migrant surge here in the second half of 2023.
The latest data offers a lesson for anyone who cares. When Texas builds wire fences, the migrants come in record numbers. The furor over the erection of razor wire in Eagle Pass had been tantamount to advertising for people are en route to the Lone Star State.
Several million migrants have been apprehended by federal agents in Texas in the past three years. The state has not forced any migrants to return to Mexico during that time. GOP leaders and lawmakers have poured about $10 billion into border security in Texas, but they've failed to get the most telling Operation Lone Star stat off zero no matter how much they spend.
Twenty-five Republican governors have endorsed Abbott's strategy at the border in the wake of the high court decision this week. All of them are relying on their Texas counterpart's information, which the latest migrant count here debunks.
more to come ... |
