During an interview with Texas Scorecard at last week’s Republican Party of Texas Convention, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith expressed his displeasure with the lack of border security and the danger that these illegal migrants bring to his community.
During the conversation, Smith dismissed the left’s claim of the emotional appeal to families coming across the border, saying, “They’re all single adult males. I believe maybe one out of 200 might be female; but for the most part, they’re single adult males.”
Migrants coming across the border pose so much danger to the community, Smith said, that barriers had to be installed at the local elementary school.
“In one day, we probably had eight … high-speed pursuits in the county. … Our elementary school has rock barriers around the entire campus—military-grade barriers—to keep all the high-speed pursuits from going onto campus and injuring children,” Smith explained.
He also said the invaders have changed tactics; when they first came across on roads and trails, they were more easily apprehended. But now, illegal border-crossers have resorted to trespassing through private land to reach solace in the U.S.
“At first, when this disaster started, they were walking on roads and trails coming through ranch land, coming through property, and [being] smuggled through the highway,” said Smith.
“This isn’t something sustainable for Texas. We can’t keep going like this,” said Smith. “In my view, we need to declare an invasion under Article 1 of the Constitution and the Texas Constitution, and prevent their entry from occurring in the first place. That power lies solely with the governor of Texas. We are looking to him for something like that to happen. Until it does, it isn’t going to stop; it will only get worse.”
Though Gov. Greg Abbot has not yet elected to refer to the situation as an invasion, delegates to the Republican Party of Texas Convention issued a legislative priority urging him to do just that.
