A judge is calling on Texas to help provide state resources as local officials deal with the fallout of migrants who broke through a border barrier and illegally rushed onto U.S. territory.
More than 100 migrants pushed their way onto the U.S. side of the border on Friday after some cut the concertina wire that was placed along the Rio Grande, prompting them to be arrested en masse by the Texas Department of Public Safety. However, those migrants are being held at local facilities as they await trial, placing an enormous strain on capacity.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego noted that their jail annex is currently at 94% capacity, and if such an incident were to happen again, he says they wouldn’t have the resources to hold more migrants. He’s suggested that the Texas Department of Public Safety assist in handling the influx. (RELATED: ‘New York City Cannot Handle This’: NYC Officials Demand White House, Governor Do More To Help City’s Migrant Crisis)
“It would be very helpful if [the Texas Department of Public Safety] were the ones that would handle it. They would provide the magistrates. They would provide the sheltering. They would provide everything,” he said to local news station KTSM.
TOPSHOT – A metal fence marked with the US Border Patrol sign prevents people to get close to the barbed/concertina wire covering the US/Mexico border fence, in Nogales, Arizona, on February 9, 2019. (Photo by Ariana Drehsler / AFP) (Photo credit should read ARIANA DREHSLER/AFP via Getty Images)
Inmates brought in by the state pose an additional financial burden to counties because it can result in them turning down federal prisoners, which bring in money. In El Paso County, for example, federal inmates bring up to $87 a day whereas state inmates cost the county $110 a day, according to local media.
The judge’s statements come as the border crisis has forced local and city officials across the country to beg for financial assistance — and spending millions of their constituents’ tax dollars in the process.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has long called for the Biden administration to do more to address the border crisis, and was forced to make budget cuts to city services. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is currently taking money from his city’s police force to pay for services for illegal aliens and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is asking his city council for an additional $70 million in migrant funding.
Much of the migration to these northern, large cities began as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, which has bussed thousands of migrants from Texas to New York City, Chicago, Denver and other major cities considered to be sanctuary jurisdictions.
There have been record levels of migrant encounters at the southern border under President Joe Biden’s tenure. The Congressional Budget Office reported that more than 3 million foreign nationals entered the U.S. illegally, were released into the U.S. via parole or overstayed their visa in the country in fiscal year 2023.
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