By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
BRACKETTVILLE – Two elected leaders and a former Customs and Border Protection commissioner say an ongoing immigrant “invasion” is unprecedented and requires unprecedented measures to counter it.
Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith, District 21 U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Mark Morgan, former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection under the Trump Administration, made their comments to a large group of journalists Tuesday during a closed press conference in the Kinney County Convention Center.
Smith spoke to the group about several incidents in which county residents have had run-ins with alleged human smugglers and immigrants.
“As (was) mentioned earlier, we had a county resident, she called me, she has 10 bullet holes in her vehicle after a smuggler shot repeatedly into her car while trying to avoid the DPS. I’ve had ranchers call me. A mother was inside of her house while several illegal aliens were trying to break in. They attempted breaking in until the sheriff arrived 15 minutes later. We’ve had ranchers out on their property with young children discovering dead bodies. How do you explain to those kids why those dead bodies are there?” Smith said.
“This is not sustainable for Texas. The residents of Texas shouldn’t have to explain to their young children why there’s dead people on their property. They shouldn’t have to be fired upon going down the roads while minding their own business. This is what we’re up against,” the county attorney said.
Smith spoke about drafting the disaster declaration signed by Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan charging that the levels of illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug smuggling constitute an invasion.
“We’re at a crossroads in Texas and the United States. Gov. Abbott made a speech in Eagle Pass the other day where he said unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. I totally agree, and I support the efforts Gov. Abbott has done under Operation Lone Star. But what these counties are doing is that we’re taking unprecedented action.
“In the following weeks, there are many more counties that are going to be (signing similar declarations). Texans are tired of it. This is not acceptable,” Smith said.
Roy told reporters the counties that have signed an invasion declaration are doing what the Arizona attorney general has done and “what the Texas attorney general needs to do, which is recognize an invasion.”
“This is an invasion of the state of Texas that is undermining our security, risking the health and well-being of Texans, allowing fentanyl to pour into our schools and communities, for Texans to die, allowing ranches to be overrun, empowering cartels who are well-armed along the border with their tentacles reaching into Texas. You’re damn right that’s an invasion. What else do you call it?” Roy said.
Roy said he was in Eagle Pass meeting with Border Patrol agents earlier in the day when he encountered with them a large group of migrants.
“Most of them were from Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia, all coming up, walking up to the Border Patrol and doing what? Being put in a bus and sent to a processing facility to be released into the United States. That is what is happening. People say that’s fine, that’s just a humanitarian thing.
“Well, what’s really happening is that all of those Border Patrol agents are processing people undermining our law, releasing them into the United States unlawfully, illegally, which is why (Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro) Mayorkas should be impeached, and distracting the Border Patrol from doing their job, which is patrolling the river, allowing fentanyl and terrorist actors and dangerous actors to come up and pour into the United States,” Roy said.
“107,000 dead Americans from opioid overdoses and poisonings. Fentanyl. An NFL star, fentanyl poisoning. A college star, fentanyl poisoning. West Point cadets, fentanyl poisoning. What do you need to see, to see the invasion that’s happening to Texas?
“You heard these great Americans (on the stage with me), these great Texans, applauding the governor for stepping into the breach when President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas are leaving Border Patrol dangling, fighting against a well-armed cartel.
“The governor is giving resources, providing help through DPS, razor wire, containers along the river . . .but guess what? It doesn’t work in the end because the federal government refuses to enforce the laws of the United States, and that is precisely what is happening. Not enough containers, not enough razor wire, not enough DPS troopers in the world, to stop a federal government refusing to do its fundamental job to defend a sovereign nation.
“We should declare an invasion. We should as Texas turn people away and do what is necessary to secure our communities. As the judge said, we support our communities and protect our communities first, protect Texas, and then the federal government should be doing its job under the Constitution to reinforce that,” Roy said.
Former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan also blasted the Biden Administration.
“Let me talk to you about Secretary Mayorkas and this administration. Secretary Mayorkas gets out and directly lies to members of Congress . . . He’s lied to the American people when he says – this is one of the shticks he says out there – that they’re developing a safe, orderly and humane system along the southwest border. It’s a lie.
“It’s blatant lie, and he knows it’s a lie. Let me talk to you about Secretary Mayorkas and this administration’s safe, orderly and humane system for the migrants themselves. Right now under the Biden Administration’s watch of a little over 18 months, more than 800 dead migrants have been found on our borders. Eight hundred dead migrants. If you add in what all of these gentlemen behind me have discovered, that number’s exponentially higher,” Morgan said.
He said Doctors Without Borders has estimated up to 30 percent of young women and children are sexually assaulted on their journey to the U.S. He also noted Border Patrol agents have reported 20,000 rescues in the last 18 months, risking their own lives to save immigrants.
“And we haven’t even talked about the trafficking. You don’t have to be a border security expert, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist, to understand that if you exponentially increase by 300, 400, 500 percent the illegal immigration, you’re also increasing the atrocities suffered from human trafficking,” Morgan said.
“So think about that. As the numbers this fiscal year alone, 1.5 million apprehensions. Last year, 1.9 (million). Think about the number of young women and children that have been sexually assaulted because of the open border policies. Think about the absolute expansion of human trafficking atrocities because of this administration’s open border policies. Think about the highest number of deaths in any 18 months of any administration that we’re experiencing right now because of the open border policies,” he added.
“And one last thing: right now under this administration, 850,000 known ‘got-aways.’ 850,000 that have broken into our country and evaded apprehension. Why? Because 80 to 90 percent of Border Patrol agents are pulled off the national security mission, off the front line, and relegated to administration jobs. Hospital watch, transportation, security and processing. We have literally handed over operational control of large areas of the southwest border to the cartels, and (Mayorkas) says the borders are closed,” Morgan said.
Morgan said Border Patrol agents have told him that the number of “got-aways” is probably closer to one million.
“And the truth is that among that 850,000, there are some really bad people. Murderers, rapists, pedophiles and gang members. Every single day they’re getting away and making their way to every town, city and state. How do I know that? Because the Border Patrol has arrested about 19,000 criminals, including over 50 for murder. Every single day they’re arresting gang members or pedophiles, so do the math,” Morgan said.
Morgan said the invasion is also comprised of large amounts of fentanyl and terrorists, reminding journalists that in the past fiscal year, 50 migrants on FBI’s terrorist screening database have been apprehended among those coming across the borders.
“They actually apprehended and released a suspected terrorist in the United States, and it took them two weeks to figure it out and re-apprehend him,” Morgan said.
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