A live panel discussion in South Texas featured border officials who argued that blocking the flow of illegal aliens is just the first step to effectively securing the border.
Hosted by Texas Scorecard publisher Michael Quinn Sullivan in Roma, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith and Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd weighed in on the state’s role in reversing the open-border carnage left behind by the Biden administration.
Sullivan noted that overall border crossings have gone down, but asked, “Is the problem taken care of?”
“Absolutely not,” responded Boyd. The sheriff pointed out that while the U.S. Border Patrol has worked hard to slow the number of illegal aliens crossing the border, violent criminal cartels have been able to gain a foothold in the United States.
“The real challenge is not securing the border,” Boyd continued, calling it the “first phase” of the Trump administration’s task. He added that the real work lies in ridding the country of the “cartel scourge.”
Smith, who led the charge in encouraging counties to issue disaster declarations in response to the Biden administration’s policies, highlighted a distinction between two facets of the border crisis: the actual border and the homeland.
“Right now, we’re facing a tremendous task in front of us with the homeland—and trying to secure that from the cartels,” Smith said. “We have to deport more people every day to even try to catch up.”
Smith pointed out that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has estimated that nearly 20 million people have illegally crossed the border.
Even though what is categorized as criminal cartels is only a small percentage of that number, Smith noted that it still adds up to thousands of people.
“In Kinney County, when this first began, we saw the traffic coming,” Smith continued. “A lot of the time, Austin isn’t the fastest to react, and so we went to other counties like Goliad and formed a coalition trying to get public awareness of this issue.”
Boyd expounded on the approximate number of U.S.-present illegal aliens that Smith cited, saying that those 20 million are beholden to the cartels.
“Once you come into this country, it takes eight to 13 years to buy your freedom from your smugglers,” Boyd revealed. “And so those individuals get put into indentured servitude.”
The conversation touched on the results of the 2024 presidential election, with the speakers noting that President Donald Trump’s victory was only the first step in a long path to establishing a strong border.
Boyd asserted that the cartels are altering their business models to adapt to the president’s crackdown on their operations.
For example, he noted that various cartels have halted production of lethal drug agents like fentanyl because they are worried that more American deaths will further provoke Trump’s wrath.
The sheriff also argued that law enforcement needs to likewise improve adaptability to cartel changes in business practices.
“If our adversary changes and we don’t, we are destined to lose,” he said.
Both Smith and Boyd expressed support for the 287(g) program, which is a statute in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act that permits the delegation of certain immigration enforcement abilities to state and local law enforcement agencies.
“I want to be real clear about one thing,” said Smith. “The Trump administration has a border security plan and a goal they’ve set. He’s limited to DHS and federal law enforcement agencies to do that.”
“There is no way for them to accomplish their goals without the help of state and local law enforcement,” he argued.
Texas senators recently considered legislation that would require each county with a population of 100,000 or more to sign agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in pursuit of law enforcement collaboration goals.
“It’s imperative that Texas stands up and aids the Trump administration to secure the border,” said Smith.
Boyd added that a vital step to truly securing the border is “the need to bring the full spectrum of law enforcement together, whether that’s local, state, or federal. Bring us all together under the umbrella of DHS or the border czar.”
View the whole conversation here.
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