Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called for an increase in federal officials visiting the border amid the ongoing migrant surge.
Paxton attended a law enforcement roundtable Tuesday in Laredo, Texas, and discussed the federal government’s negligence towards the overwhelmed border patrol and local communities at the southern border, KDFW Fox 4 reported. He said the U.S. has “invited” human traffickers and drug cartels to cross the Texas-Mexico border.
“We also have more issues with drugs, more issues with human trafficking have grown really greatly because we’ve basically invited it as a nation,” Paxton said. “One of the frustrations I have is we have our national government responsible for what happens at the border and they won’t come down here and see with their own eyes.”
Good Morning from Laredo, Texas. Down on the border again for a Sheriff and Law enforcement round table to discuss Biden’s Border Crisis with those on the frontlines. #border #Texas pic.twitter.com/mbqWd5ZEW9
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 25, 2021
Border officials apprehended over 178,000 migrants at the southwest border in April, and border patrol agents reported a 97% increase in cocaine confiscation and a 34% surge in fentanyl, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (RELATED: Border Agents Report Being Overworked, Understaffed And Exposed To COVID-19 During Migrant Surge)
Border patrol agents are understaffed, are required to work 10-hour overtime shifts and have limited resources, agents previously reported. Republican New York Rep. John Katko and Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar introduced legislation in April that would fund $1 billion to the Migrant Surge Border Response Fund to prevent the agency from reallocating its own budget for food, transportation or first aid.
Texas representatives pointed to drug cartel activity and human and sex trafficking entering the border that have impacted both migrants and U.S. citizens at a March 10 press conference. They criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for its lax policies that facilitated the crisis.