As illegal aliens are still being allowed to cross Texas’ open border, U.S. Border Patrol has reportedly reassigned all hands from “apprehending” to “processing.” A former federal agent says these massive waves of illegal aliens are one of the “biggest sources” of rising cases of the Chinese coronavirus and advises Texans to contact all their state officials to stop illegal crossings at the border.
Victor Avila, a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, has previously told Texas Scorecard that federal and state officials aren’t making serious efforts to stop illegal aliens from crossing the border. He said the number of illegal border crossings has recently skyrocketed.
On Tuesday, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith (R) told Texas Scorecard that U.S. Border Patrol informed him they had been given new orders. “They’ve all been reassigned to processing,” Smith said. “None of them are actually going to be enforcing the border.” Avila commented, “That is what I’m hearing exactly.”
Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe described processing as “paperwork, documentation, etc.”
“We’re in a bad spot now,” Smith said. “Texas is on its own.”
That evening, gubernatorial candidate Allen West said he’d heard the same. “Some great people down in the border have been feeding me and our campaign team a lot of good intelligence,” he said. “The Border Patrol has been reassigned to only doing processing. No Border Patrol agents [are] out there in the field.”
Former Val Verde County Judge Laura Allen (R) disputes these reports, saying several apprehensions had occurred Tuesday. “I’ve spent all day trying to get confirmation,” she told Texas Scorecard. “Border Patrol is still apprehending.”
Texas Scorecard asked Coe about the situation. “What I know is that, evidently, [Border Patrol] had a huge influx in the number that have showed up at the border, and they’re trying to get them processed and moved out as quick as possible,” he replied. “In order to do that, they had to pull all available hands out of the field and into the office to process.”
An inquiry to U.S. Border Patrol from Texas Scorecard was viewed 90 times but not responded to before publication. A similar inquiry to the office of Gov. Greg Abbott was also viewed but not responded to before publication.
Coe said another factor contributing to the lack of agents in the field are Border Patrol agents who’ve caught the Chinese coronavirus. “I know that they’ve been hit with COVID very hard. There’s several agents out with it.”
He explained Border Patrol is attempting to do most processing of illegal aliens at Del Rio and Eagle Pass. “But all the other stations are having to pitch in also to try and relieve some of the pressure,” he continued. “Once they get them processed, if they’re amenable to Title 42, they’re sent back. If not, they’re given a notice to appear and kicked down the road.”
COVID
Coe explained Title 42 is a Trump administration order from last year in response to the Chinese coronavirus. “Instead of actually taking [illegal aliens] in and writing them up, processing them, and prosecuting them, they would just immediately return them back to the border.”
“It gives the authority of Border Patrol to return people back based on the pandemic,” Avila explained. “It’s not being exercised, it’s not being used.”
Coe said illegal aliens who are caught are given the choice to accept or reject Title 42, and explained what happens if they reject. “They’re taken in, processed, photographed, fingerprinted, everything, and then kicked down the road,” he said. “They’re released.”
Avila linked rising cases of the Chinese coronavirus to the open border. “We have the cases everywhere in the country because the people that are coming in at our southern border are going everywhere in the U.S. with positive COVID cases,” he explained. “I’m not saying that’s the only source, but it’s definitely one of the biggest sources of people unchecked, coming in with COVID, affecting us in our communities all around our country.”
Help From the State
Coe was asked what help he’s received from Abbott and the state to respond to the border situation. He brought up an operational plan he recently put together and sent to the state. “I sent it up the chain of command to DPS, asking for certain resources, and [I’m] waiting to see if I’m going to get any of it.” But Coe says the state’s response won’t deter him. “We’re going to go ahead and go through with our part of it.”
“As far as anything else from the governor, we got DPS working the highways and that’s about it,” Coe said, adding about 20 or 30 state troopers have arrived for that task. This has freed up his department to provide other services to their citizens, such as local law enforcement.
When asked if these troopers were enough, Coe said it depends on how you look at it. “You can saturate the area, but if [the officers] don’t care, they don’t care,” he explained.
For all Texans, the Kinney County sheriff had a direct message. “We’re doing everything within our power. We’ve drawn a line and we’re going to stand by it,” Coe said. “It may have to come down to Kinney County taking care of Kinney County. We’re going to do our best to keep [illegal aliens] out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.”
Call to Action
“It is beyond normal human comprehension how the shenanigans at the border can actually get worse,” citizen advocate Al Zito told Texas Scorecard. “The Biden administration has taken an egregious position against the State of Texas, as well as every legal citizen that lives in our great state and our country.”
For Texans concerned about the open border situation, Avila advised them to start contacting all state officials, not just Gov. Abbott. “Let’s get on the phone with the attorney general’s office. Let’s get on the phone with the lieutenant governor’s office,” he said. “How about the speaker of the House? Let’s get on the phone with him.”
“There’s several branches and several individuals that we should contact and really have our voices heard, because I think they need to hear directly from the people and their frustrations of what we are facing right now,” Avila continued. “We could have easily stopped this a long time ago.”
Smith wants to know what Abbott will do. “History is going to remember this governor as the one who failed Texas or preserved Texas,” he told Texas Scorecard. “History is looking right now at Gov. Abbott.”
