On Tuesday, July 20, several state legislators hosted a border security forum at the Texas Capitol, with members from both the House and the Senate. Those in attendance who gave testimony included sheriffs, county judges, county attorneys, and property owners from the border and the greater South Texas region, as well as representatives of The Remembrance Project, angel families, and former DPS.
For nearly two and a half hours, there was testimony and discussion about the ongoing, ever-increasing disaster at our southern border. For the last six months, the federal government has not only allowed the disaster on the border to occur, but it has directly enabled it by both action and inaction. County Judges and Sheriffs testified that their counties are being overrun by crime, their manpower is stretched to the breaking point, and the resources have run dry with no relief in sight from the State or Federal government.
Property damage, assault, murder, and human trafficking occur daily all along the border due to open borders and failure to enforce our laws. The cartels have become so emboldened that they are openly engaging in a modern-day slave trade. Judge Dale Carruthers of Terrell County testified about people being trafficked across the border, saying, "Their lives don’t belong to them anymore. These people have been exploited. The cartel has taken over…We need to close this border and we need to take control of it. We don't have the means to do it in Terrell County."
South Texas and border counties represented by democrats in the Texas House are the areas that are suffering the most. Many of these democrat representatives have fled to Washington D.C. to break quorum while their local officials and citizens from their districts are pleading for help.
Therefore, the undersigned Representatives officially call on the Speaker of the House, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Governor to do everything necessary to end this disaster and stem illegal entry into the United States through the Texas-Mexico border, including invoking Article 1, Sec. 10 of the United States Constitution, and by passing concrete laws through the legislative process to enact the following:
• State felony charges for anyone in Texas illegally (as defined by current federal law).
• Construction and maintenance of a permanent border wall with minimum design and standards similar to wall constructed under the Trump Administration.
• Grant programs and necessary waivers for South Texas and border counties to efficiently and expeditiously erect and maintain detention facilities to house illegal aliens.
• Give funds, resources, and manpower directly to South Texas and border county sheriffs' departments due to their knowledge of the conditions, geography, etc. of their jurisdiction.
• Statutes permitting and facilitating law enforcement to repatriate illegal aliens.
• Statutes classifying cartels as terrorist organizations.
• Any other measures that would bring an end to this crisis; including, if necessary, the closing of the ports of entry and the restricting of inbound trade from Mexico into Texas, in order to facilitate greater cooperation on the part of the Mexican government in stopping illegal alien and cartel activity.
Bryan Slaton, State Representative - HD 2 (and others)