The details of the plan, such as cost and logistics, are minimal. Abbott acknowledged that the additional inspections – aimed at eliminating smugglers carrying drugs, migrants and other “illegal cargo” through international entry points – would “dramatically slow down” traffic from Mexico, the state’s largest trading partner. . State officials also said they would charter “as many buses as we need” to transport migrants nearly 28 hours across the border to Washington, DC. Texas will also offer flights to immigrants seeking to leave the state, the governor said. Abbott, a Republican who is seeking re-election this year and has made border security a top priority of his campaign, said the federal government is already providing immigrants with transportation to San Antonio. “Let’s continue our journey to Washington, DC,” he told a news conference at Weslaco in the Rio Grande Valley. For several days, Abbott said the state was expecting a huge increase in immigrants next month when the federal government revoked a public health order known as Title 42 used to expedite migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. Recent measures escalate Abbott’s conflict with President Joe Biden over how to deal with illegal immigration. Abbott has already sent thousands of state police and Texas National Guard soldiers to the border to apprehend immigrants accused of the violation. The governor has also pledged $ 1 billion to build a dam along the state border with Mexico after Biden ordered a halt to construction of a wall begun by former President Donald Trump. The move drew criticism from civil rights groups and Democrats, who have been protesting that immigrants have been left in jail without access to lawyers for a long time, and even complaints from some Guard soldiers that their conditions were poor and the mission had no purpose. Beto O’Rourke, Abbott’s Democratic opponent in this year’s governorship, described the incumbent’s latest moves as “hell.” “If Abbott had focused on solutions instead of stunts, then Texas could have made some real progress on this issue in the last seven years,” O’Rourke said in a written statement.

‘Inanimate objects’

Denise Gilman, co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin Law School, said the bus transfer proposal does not respect people coming to the United States to seek protection. “He treats them as inanimate objects that must be moved and used for political purposes,” he said. There are also serious legal issues, Gilman said. Although Abbott described the initiative as voluntary, if any migrants are forced or forced to travel, it could be a violation of their rights and cause lawsuits, she said. Abbott, however, defended his actions. And he warned of a massive influx of immigrants because of what he called Biden’s misguided policies. “The Biden government’s open border policies have paved the way for dangerous cartels and deadly drugs to spill over into the United States, and this crisis will only be exacerbated by the end of deportations to Title 42,” the governor warned. Immigration

Pressure is mounting to end the pandemic-related health mandate, which has been used more than 1.7 million times for the rapid deportation of migrants to the US-Mexico border. Immigration advocates, medical groups and prominent Democrats in Congress are among those pushing for the Biden administration to lift the public health mandate known as Title 42. They say its use only applies to immigrants and not to other travelers. exposes migrants to rapid expulsion to dangerous border towns. For the current two-year state budget cycle, Texas appears to have already committed nearly $ 4 billion to build the border barrier, mobilize thousands of Guards and state police in the area, and build detention facilities and the capacity of the judiciary. for persecution of immigrants is accused of violation and other state offenses. The possible consequences of Abbott’s latest moves are unclear. On Wednesday, he said “enhanced security checks” on vehicles would help Texas apprehend smugglers and synthetic opioid fentanyl. Although Abbott did not specify whether the Department of Public Safety would stop all traffic on the border bridges or just commercial vehicles, Abbott’s spokeswoman Nan Tolson confirmed that the effort would be limited to commercial vehicles. In Laredo, the busiest land port on the Texas border, about 2.4 million trucks crossed the year before the 2019 pandemic, according to data held by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation. At the five largest crossing points in the Rio Grande Valley, a total of more than one million trucks passed in 2019. At the Eagle Pass, about 180,000 trucks passed in 2019. In 2021, truck traffic increased to 2.6 million in Laredo, 1.1 million in the Rio Grande Valley and 200,000 in the Eagle Pass.

Free shipping “voluntary”

Regarding the relocation of immigrants to Washington, Abbott said Texas emergency management officials would begin chartering the vehicles immediately. Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Department of Emergency Management, when asked how many buses would be chartered, said the state had procured up to 900 in previous disaster response, such as Category 5 hurricanes. The buses will “send these illegal immigrants who have landed by the Biden government to Washington, DC. “We are sending them to the US Capitol,” Abbott said. GREAT ideas. @GregAbbott_TX But Texas should NOT ONLY send chartered illegal alien buses to DC. I submitted federal legislation to send them ALSO to: – Martha’s Vinyard, MA- Nantucket, MA- Palo Alto, CA- Greenwich, CT- Scarsdale, NY- Newport, RI- Rehoboth Beach, DE https://t.co/0MK7fLfGaA – Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 6, 2022 In a letter asking Kidd to coordinate the effort, Abbott said the program would be voluntary. It will offer transportation “to Washington, DC and other locations outside the state of Texas” to immigrants whom the US Department of Homeland Security is releasing from detention in Texas cities, he said. “County mayors and judges should immediately notify TDEM of any DHS departures that may require the delivery of a bus, plane or other means of evacuating such migrants from our State,” Abbott wrote. Vehicle inspections and free transfer offers will be complemented by “mass immigration rehearsals” from the state’s National Guard, Abbott said. The rehearsals will include boat blockades, container blockades and the construction of a razor wire in low-water crossings and high-traffic areas, said Governor and Lt. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer, a state general recently appointed by Abbott. Abbott said the National Guard would begin preparations on Thursday. Some Guardsmen and state police patrolling the border area will be equipped with equipment to combat possible violence, the governor also said. “All soldiers and the specially trained National Guard will be equipped with riot gear in the event of possible caravan violence,” he said. So… You’ll increase the already sad $ 1 billion border waiting times in industries that are still plagued by Covid. And to add insult to injury, you will send undocumented immigrants on vacation funded by taxpayers in Washington DC. Very conservative … https://t.co/KaDuySn2PC – Terry Canales (@ TerryCanales40) April 6, 2022 The three actions are Texas’ first response to the wave of immigrants expected since the removal of Title 42 by the Biden administration imposed by Trump after the coronavirus outbreak, Abbott said. “Texas will continue to assess the threats posed by [Biden] “the administration’s open border policies and these unprecedented illegal border crossings,” he said. Other stages will be announced next week, Abbott said at the end of the press conference. Dallas Staff Writer Dianne Solis contributed to this report.