AUSTIN – Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday named a new border czar, whose top priority is making Texas the “least desirable place” for migrant crossings. Mike Banks,...
in the small South Texas city of San Benito that he said costs about $25 million per mile to build. At the end of the event, Abbott called a construction crew from a radio who, at his command, used a crane to hoist into place another panel of metal wall barrier.
The number of migrants encountered by the Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border rose steadily in recent months, but daily encounters dropped by more than half from December to January, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Biden administration has claimed credit for the drop, saying new policies are working to cut down on the number of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans crossing at the southern border. The administration is allowing entry to 30,000 asylum seekers per month from those countries and Venezuela so long as they apply in advance, while penalizing those who come without permission., deeming it an abuse of executive authority.
“Every January is kind of the lowest month for border crossings, and so if you look at cycles, because of the Biden administration’s actions we can expect those numbers to increase dramatically in the spring and in the summer,” Abbott said.Banks will be headquartered in Weslaco, a city in the Rio Grande Valley that has been a hotspot for migration in recent years, and report directly to Abbott.
Banks retired from the Border Patrol about 10 days ago, after working for the federal agency for more than 20 years, Abbott said.
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