The state of Texas will begin construction on a massive wall along the United States-Mexico border in 2023, essentially completing a portion of the multistate project initiated by former President Donald Trump during his time in office (2017-21).
According to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, the construction project will include the installation of a new area of slatted wall along an unspecified portion of the border.
Also, Abbott expects the project to consume most or potentially all of 2023.
"More border wall is going up next month. It took months to negotiate with private property owners on the border for the right to build on their property," Abbott wrote on Twitter. "We now should be building more border wall all of next year."
During the Trump presidency, crews worked diligently to complete the 1,900-mile border wall through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. But after President Joe Biden took over the White House in January 2021, many of the barrier projects went dormant.
Abbott's renewed urgency for completing Texas' commitment to the border wall might have something to do with a Wednesday tweet, in which the governor characterized the record-breaking number of illegal crossings at the southern border as "unsustainable."
Abbott wrote, "El Paso official says illegal border crossing numbers 'are unsustainable' days before Title 42 expires. It's the direct result of 2 years of inaction from the Biden Admin. While Biden drags his feet, Texas will do whatever it takes to protect our state."
Also on Wednesday, Abbott formally requested that state Attorney General Ken Paxton look into reports of Texas-based nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, helping migrants illegally cross the southern border.
In his letter to Paxton, Abbott wrote, "The number of illegal immigrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border has reached an all-time high."
"Indeed, this past Sunday, over a 24-hour span, over 2,600 illegal immigrants crossed the border near El Paso and illegally entered Texas," wrote Abbott.
In the letter, Abbott also blamed federal border management — and the ones conducting the alleged NGO activities — for the brutal conditions along the border, in terms of Mexican cartels conducting human- and drug-trafficking operations.
"Although the burden to address the ongoing border crisis should not fall to Texas, the federal government has failed to take action to address this problem," Abbott wrote.
The governor then added: "There have been recent reports that nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] may have assisted with illegal border crossings near El Paso. We further understand NGOs may be engaged in unlawfully orchestrating other border crossings through activities on both sides of the border, including in sectors other than El Paso."
As a supplemental tweet to Wednesday's news, Abbott wrote: "I'm calling on the Texas Attorney General's Office to investigate the role non-governmental organizations may have played in planning & assisting illegal crossings into Texas. With the end of Title 42 days away, Texas remains vigilant in our response to Biden's border crisis."
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