Texas strengthens border inspections after the deaths of 53 migrants

Following the fear of a human smuggling attempt that killed 53 people, Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered state soldiers to inspect more trucks. Given the right to arrest the National Guard and the bus immigrants to Washington, D.C. It is to keep the number down. ..

Read more: How did the truck, which killed 53 immigrants, pass the US border checkpoint? Officials say Monday's deadly tractor and trailer journey has begun along the Texasborder. Same span a year ago. This reflects that the crossroads are at or near the highest in about 20 years across the country's southern border.

The most deadly smuggling attempt in US history is Abbott's large-scale border device as the second governor. It shows the limit. In November, turn to President Joe Byden. Immigrant advocates are opposed to Abbott's criticism, saying Byden is focusing on enforcement.

"Texas will take action to play our part in reducing the number of illegal immigrants coming to our country," Abbott is on the border of the town of Eagle Pass on Wednesday. I said in the meantime.

He said state soldiers would begin inspecting more tractor trailers in the wake of the tragedy. He did not provide details about the scope or location of the inspection. However, unlike the inspection work that grid-locked the state's 1,200-mile (1,930 km) border three months ago for a week, soldiers do not check all tractor trailers when they arrive in Texas.

The Texas Public Safety Agency did not answer questions on Friday about the number of trucks inspected since the Governor's order and whether immigrants were found.

Critics have questioned the transparency and metrics of what is now a $ 3 billion mission since Operation Lone Star began in the spring of 2021. It has little to do with border security. After the hasty deployment of the Texas National Guard, some members complained of low morale, late salaries, and little to do.

Since April, Abbott has provided cross-border immigrants with a bus ride to Washington, D.C. The doorway. So far, about 3,000 immigrants have taken part in the trip at a cost of over $ 5 million.

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"Greg Abbott, all he wants to do is a pitfall phrase and a pitfall stunt, with no real solution," it turns out that the track was abandoned. Senator Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat in the district, including the backstreets of San Antonio, said. "He's probably spending over $ 10 billion to secure the border and hasn't done one pity to fix it."

US border authorities have at least More often than at any point in 20 years, immigrants are blocked at the southern border. Immigration stopped about 240,000 times in May, an increase of one-third from a year ago.

The comparison with the pre-pandemic level is complicated because immigrants exiled under the public medical institution known as Title 42 do not face legal implications and encourage repeated attempts. According to officials, 25% of May encounters were with people who were suspended at least once in the previous year.

Abbott's previous track inspection efforts caused a huge backlash and caused serious financial losses. ..

Abbott stopped checking after signing an agreement with the governors of four neighboring states in Mexico, but warned that he could impose it again if no improvement was seen. Did. The number of immigrants over May was higher than in April. When asked about it on Wednesday,

Abbott said, "Accountability may come soon." He also blamed the federal government of Mexico and said he needed to do more.

He said the overall operation was successful, pointing out more than 4,000 immigrants arrested on suspicion of illegal invasion of state criminals, 14,000 serious crimes, and drug seizure. I am saying. He also said Texas returned more than 22,000 immigrants last year. This is just part of the border crossing that tried to cross the southern border in a month.

Prior to Monday's tragedy, Texas' most deadly smuggling attempt took place in 2003, with 19 dead in a sultry trailer about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of San Antonio. Was discovered. Jeff Baden, a former US lawyer who helped prosecute the case, said the ruling for smuggling immigrants was not high enough.

"It's not a deterrent to those at risk," he said.

The first visit to some of the immigrants who were drawn from the truck and admitted to San Antonio was Antonio Fernandez, president and CEO of Catholic Charity, which provides housing and support to immigrants and their families. did.

Fernandez said summer is usually late, but this year it isn't. Hotels that normally accommodate 50 Catholic charities have recently been filled with 100 people each night, and now the number of staff supporting family migration has increased from one to eight.

"My conversations with many of these people are clearly nothing in their country," Fernandez said. "They have no life and don't feel safe. They are hungry. For them, America has no choice. That is the only option they have."

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