Texas defunds state border wall program with only 65 miles complete

Texas defunds state border wall program

With only a small portion completed, the wall being constructed at the border of Texas and Mexico has been defunded by the new state budget.

AUSTIN - With only a small portion completed, the wall being constructed at the border of Texas and Mexico will not be funded by the new state budget.

A state representative has confirmed that of the $3.4 billion allocated towards border security, no funding will be spent on the wall, the Texas Tribune reports.

Texas Stops New Funding for Border Wall

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS - MAY 21: Border Patrol officers process migrants after they crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. on May 21, 2022 in Eagle Pass, Texas. Title 42, the controversial pandemic-era border policy enacted by former President Trump, which

Expand

The Latest:

Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston), who led the authoring of the budget, confirmed to the Texas Tribune that the border funding will be spent largely on the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard. These agencies are tasked with arresting undocumented immigrants under Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.

The backstory:

The state's border with Mexico is about 1,200 miles. According to the Texas Tribune, roughly 65 miles of wall has been built in fragments, largely near Brownsville and El Paso.

In a request from Abbott for Texas to be reimbursed over $11 billion by the federal government for the state's border security efforts, he said $4.75 billion had been spent on the wall, other border barriers, local border security grants, processing criminal trespass arrests and relocation of migrants.

Of that total, the Texas Tribune reports that $3 billion has gone from the taxpayers' pockets to the wall. Millions more funding came from crowdsourcing, according to the Associated Press.

Featured

Court OKs Trump using $3.6B in military money for wall construction

article

Court OKs Trump using $3.6B in military money for wall construction

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a December 2019 ruling

What they're saying:

Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said the change in funding allocation comes as a result of President Donald Trump's promises to increase border security efforts.

"Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, the federal government is finally fulfilling its obligation to secure the southern border and deport criminal illegal immigrants," Mahaleris said. "Because of these renewed federal assets in Texas, our state can now adjust aspects of state-funded border security efforts."

Featured

Texas border deployment going through 'realignment': officials

article

Texas border deployment going through 'realignment': officials

Details about the revamping of Operation Lone Star came out Thursday during a hearing before members of the State Senate Committee on Border Security.

What is Operation Lone Star?

Dig deeper:

Operation Lone Star, which was launched by Abbott in March 2021, is a joint task force operation created in an effort to reduce illegal border crossings.

In Abbott's January request for OLS reimbursement, he broke down the spending that went into the program:

$4.75 billion - Border wall, other border barriers, local border security grants, processing criminal trespass arrests, relocation of migrants
$3.62 billion - Personnel costs deployment of National Guard soldiers
$2.25 billion - Personnel costs Texas state troopers
$311.2 million - Anti-gang intelligence
$77.3 million - Court costs for prosecution of border crimes
$62.6 million - Personnel costs game wardens
$32.8 million - Health and safety services at criminal processing centers
$19.2 million - Investigation and prosecution of vehicle thefts along Texas-Mexico border
$13.7 million - Human trafficking interdiction by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
$10 million - Removal of brush to improve visibility for law enforcement
$5.2 million - Prosecutions by the Attorney General for crimes relating to human trafficking