Increased Immigration Leads to Border Security Dispute
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What led to the Southern Border Crisis
Trans Criminal Organizations (TCO’s) are taking advantage of the mass increase of immigration across the U.S. Mexico Border. Poor border security and ineffective plans to secure the border are the leading causes of the increase. As a result, immigrants have been sent north creating mass chaos and worry among U.S. citizens. Governor Gregg Abbott of Texas has taken this situation into his own hands by establishing Operation Lone Star. Governor Abbott and his staff are working on protecting Operation Lone Star from the federal government. Shelby Park is a main travel route for illegal immigrants and has been shut down by the Texas National Guard. Meanwhile, President Biden is fighting to get his agents access to Shelby Park and the Rio Grande. Due to the increase in illegal immigration through Texas borders, Governor Gregg Abbott has enforced the border with concertina wire blocking immigrants from crossing through the Rio Grande, creating tension with the federal government. Many Americans believe this problem in our country has been kicked to the side during President Biden's presidency.
Increased Immigration since President Biden Enters Office
The problem of illegal immigration has been ongoing in the U.S. for many years. Illegal immigrants are coming into our country looking for a place to stay or to escape from the problems in Mexico. Others may be seeking a place to expand their business and smuggle drugs into the U.S. Since President Biden has taken office, a surge of illegal immigrants has come into the country. The illegal immigration rate has reached a high point with no signs of slowing. “In 2021, U.S. law enforcement encountered more than 1.7 million migrants at the southern border – the highest annual total the United States has ever seen. Last year’s number is 3.7 times greater than the 458,088 total for 2020, 1.7 times greater than the 977,509 total for 2019, and 3.3 times greater than the 521,090 total for 2018.12” (U.S. Senate Committee). Part of the increase of illegal immigration is the collapse of Venezuela created a surge of migration around the world and Republicans have tried to hinder President Biden's efforts to solve the problem and that is out of Biden's control. They refused to give resources and defied federal officials charged with the security of the border (Shear, et al).
President Biden can’t control what the Republicans do, but he did promise to limit raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to close private immigration prisons. On his first day in office, he presented an immigration bill to congress that provided a chance at citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. On his second day of office, he suspended deportations, but that policy was later blocked by a federal judge. Immigrants saw this as an opportunity to make the trek to the border (Shear et al). Due to the surge of illegal immigration state governors started to take matters into their own hands.
Texas Taking the Situation into Their Own Hands
Governor Gregg Abbott of Texas has taken on the crisis at the Southern border. Mr. Abbott, a 3rd term Republican, has set up a multi-million dollar campaign in hopes of imposing stringent measures along the border to dissuade migrants. This campaign includes a law that allows state enforcement to apprehend any migrants crossing into the United States. Also concertina wire is set up on the banks of the Rio Grande and a wall of buoys hinder the migrants from crossing. (Liptak). This plan, known as Operation Lonestar, also sends state troopers along the 1,200-mile stretch of border between Mexico and Texas. In addition police officers have been ordered to take any migrants in custody that are suspected of trespassing. 1 billion 511 million has been spent on securing the border with 11 million of that on concertina wire and the rest on border walls (Melhado). Operation Lone Star has successfully been keeping out the illegal immigrants. The Concertina wire keeps the Rio Grande River free of immigrants from crossing the river and entering into the U.S. The state also deployed its national guard to shut down the park along the Texas border to keep migrants from entering into the country but also to keep the federal government from intercepting those immigrants (Reichmann).
One tactic that Texas law-enforcement uses in particular to secure Shelby Park is installing a combination of shipping containers and wire along the park's riverbank. Running along the Rio Grande, Shelby Park is a popular crossing point for illegal immigration. “On January 14, a woman and two children drowned there. Border Patrol agents say that Texas National Guard troops ‘physically barred’ them from accessing the park to save the woman and two children…”(Stieb, Danner). The Department of Homeland Security insisted Border Patrol receive access to Shelby Park. Paxton denied them and Dan Patrick, Texas Lt. Governor states, "If they cut it, we will replace it."(Steib, Danner). This didn’t sit well with the federal government. President Biden is sued Texas because his agents are blocked from the region (Stieb, Danner). Texas was ordered to remove these barriers by the 5th Circuit in a 2-1 decision. However Texas is appealing the case asking them to reconsider (Melhado). The Supreme Court ruled on Biden's side, allowing federal officers to cut parts of the concertina-wire barrier, and allowing illegal immigrants to enter the United States. The 5-4 vote was a win for the Biden Administration in the disagreement between the White House and Texas governor Gregg Abbott (Liptak).
The Fight Against the Government
Texas claims to be under an invasion and protecting itself in self-defense. In this circumstance Texas believes that their ruling is supreme over the federal government (Reachmann). Governor Abbott is a critic of Biden's policies and has shipped buses of immigrants to northern states (Liptak). In fact, buses have dropped off migrants in front of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Florida Governor sent a plane full of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard. New York was receiving buses full. Liberals were panicking and asking President Biden to step in otherwise their resources would soon be drained. New York's mayor, Eric Adams, said the swelling migration will destroy New York City (Shear et al). With Governor Abbott sending those bus loads of immigrants to the northern states people started to follow leading to chaos.
The Rise of Attention to the Border Crisis
The southern border crisis started to become more apparent to people and higher on their agendas after this chaos ensued. After Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, insisted he would launch,"the largest domestic deportation in American history," border security has been at the top of campaign agendas. House Republicans prepared legislation to start deporting migrants from the U.S. as they were allowed in underneath Biden administration policies (Mascaro).
With the growing concern of the border crisis among U.S. citizens. The New York Times examined President Biden based on interviews with 35 plus former officials. The examination showed that Biden failed to overcome the obstacles at the border. Voters have lost their trust in Biden to address their top concern about the border crisis (Shear et al). Illegal immigration has increased tremendously throughout the past few years. Ineffective plans were implemented to secure the border from illegal immigration. As a consequence Governor Abbott put in motion Operation Lone Star to handle the immigration problem at the border by shutting down a main crossing point at Shelby Park and employing concertina wire to keep illegal immigrants from stepping foot onto U.S. soil after crossing the Rio Grande.
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