Where’s my crawl?
Mister McCron.
I want to thank everybody for being in with us here this
morning. Uh I’m joined by Mike
Banks who is the Texas Border s
R. Uh General Seltzer who is
the adjutant general for the
National Guard here in the
state of Texas. We will soon be
joined by Colonel Steve McCraw
who is the director of the
Texas Department of Public
Safety. We’re here today
because of the impending end of
title two policy. With the
Biden administration ending
title 42 this Thursday.
President Biden is laying down
a welcome mat to people across
the entire world saying that
the United States border is
wide open and it will lead to
an an incredible amount of
people coming across the border
illegally. President Biden’s
open border policies is going
cars. A catastrophic disaster
in the United States. According
to the Biden administration
itself, they anticipate about
13, 000 people coming across
the border illegally every
single day. Did you extend that
out over the course of a year?
It means there will be about 4
million 700, 000 people coming
across the border a year. That
will mean that there will be
more people coming across the
border illegally than there are
residents of the massive city
of Chicago The bottom line is,
it did not have to be this way.
So, never forget this. Just
three years ago, we had the
lowest border crossings in
decades and those low number of
border crossings were a result
of the policies put in place by
the Trump administration. It
was the title 42 policy to
remain in Mexico policy. The
ending of catch and release
building a border wall, as well
as sending a message across the
entire world. America is not
open to people who are trying
to come here illegally. If you
want to come to the United
States of America, you must do
so legally, not illegally.
Today, however, we’re dealing
with the highest number of
people coming across the border
than ever before and we will
set a new all-time record this
year. All of this is a result
of policy decisions by Joe
Biden. But know this, Texas is
doing more than any state in
the history of the United
States of America. To defend
our border. That includes
deploying up to ten thousand
national guard members and one
thousand two hundred Texas
Department of Public Safety
Troopers. I want to thank
National Guard members who are
with us here today. I will tell
you more about their deployment
momentarily. What does the
National Guard members have
done working in collaboration
with the Texas Department of
Public Safety is they have
actually turned back or
repelled or denied access to
the United States and Texas by
turning back more than 37, 000
people who were trying to enter
into the country illegally.
Together they have apprehended
more than 37, 000 people who
actually did come across the
border illegally. In addition
to that, they have arrested
about 27 thousand dangerous
criminals including cartel of
gang members who were wanted
for crimes like murder, getting
them off the streets to make
sure they would not harm
anybody in Texas or the United
States. They’ve also seized
enough fidget oil that would
have been enough kill every
man, woman, and child in the
entire United States of
America. That had not been for
the National Guard troops and
the Texas Department of Public
Safety officers and troopers.
We would have on the streets in
the United States that deadly
fentanyl in this unknown. How
many Americans would have died
because of that? In addition to
all of that, we’ve been
involved and they have a aided
the process of busting these
migrants from Tiny Little
Border Cows like Del Rio and
Eagle Pass up to cities like
Chicago, New York, and around
the country. Thousands have
been bust already. Many
thousands more will be busted
in the coming days because of
the massive influx of illegal
migrants coming across the
border. And Texas is the only
state to build his own border
wall. And I’m the only governor
to ever have design at it. The
Mexican drug cartels as
terrorist organizations. With
all that said, today we are
announcing even more to respond
to Joe Biden’s reckless open
border policies. Today, we are
deploying a new National Guard
unit. It’s called the Texas
Tactical Border Force. Right
now, as we’re speaking, the
Texas National Guard is loading
Black Hawk helicopters and C
130s. Deploying specially
trained National Guard members
for the Texas Tactical Border
Force. They will be deployed to
hot spots along the border to
intercept, to repel, and to
turn back migrants who are
trying to enter Texas
illegally. We’ve seen some
examples of the National Guard
having done this already that
we have now turned into an
official operation. If you go
back to last December before
Christmas, there was a long
line of migrants trying to get
into and actually getting into
El Paso. They were lined up in
long lines of getting into El
Paso and we deployed a unit
someone like this. This was a
precursor of today’s
announcement. And what that
unit did is they built massive
miles of Constantino wire, a
border barrier. That in
twenty-four hours stopped the
influx going into El Paso,
Texas. And it is remained
effective since that time.
Another thing this is happen
within the last day or two. Uh
until a couple of days ago,
there was a border crossing in
Brownsville, Texas where
migrants were in in the
thousands had to make a short
raft trip from Mexico into the
United States. We identified
that hot spot where a massive
number of people were crossing
the border illegally. We
deployed the National Guard to
the location to close down that
crossing and now that crossing
is shut down. His projects like
that. That this elite National
Guard team will be focused on
to identify hotspot crossings
like that, shut it down so that
we can stop illegal immigration
into the state of Texas. Uh
they will be deployed with the
equipment and tools that will
be needed for them to be
affected. It includes aircraft.
It includes boats on the water.
Night vision as well as Riot
Greer, Riot Gear to prepare for
anything they may encounter. As
they are thing is seguring our
border. The Texas Tactical
Border Force it bolsters
Operation Lone Star to secure
the Texas border amidst the
chaos caused by Joe Biden
eliminating Title forty-two. In
addition to this deployment
today, we’re working on laws
this session that I hope will
pass later on this month. It
will give me and the state of
Texas even more tools to do an
even better job of securing our
border. One, is to make it a
felony to illegal to illegally
enter the state of Texas from
Mexico. That felony will
entitle us to be able to do one
or two things. Either to arrest
these people and jail them for
a felony or alternatively to
return them back to Mexico. We
will also make it a felony for
anybody who’s operating or
involved in any way in a stash
house. And we will make it a
ten-year minimum jail sentence
for people who are struggling
in this in the state of Texas.
Now, with regard of smuggling,
one thing that we’ve always
been dealing with are either
cartel members or the gangs who
work in in conjunction with the
cartel members in the Senate of
Texas smuggling people. We’ve
seen a dramatic increase in
average everyday Texas involved
in the snuggling people
including an employee of a
district attorney’s office here
in the state of Texas. That’s
Ripper invincible and we
want to shut it down. Any Texan
or anybody in the state of
Texas caught smuggling illegal
immigrants will be spending a
minimum of 10 years behind bars
in the state of Texas. With
that, I will I will pass it to
Mike Banks. Uh the boarders are
here in the state of Texas. If
you if you use the bike down
there.
Since day one, I’ve been working as a Texas State Border
Zar. I’ve been working with
Colonel Craw and General Solser
to deal with the Biden Open
Border Policy. I have traveled
along the border and I’ve seen
first hand the impact this
crisis is having on Texas
communities. The state of Texas
has done more than any other
state to deal with this human,
this humanitarian catastrophe.
Governor Abbott s is doing the
job that President Biden and
the federal administration’s
refusing to do. And Texas will
continue to work relentlessly
to defend our borders. Today’s
deployment of the Texas
Tactical Border Force will
allow us to be able to shift
resources to need a locations
effectively and efficiently. I
will continue to work with
Governor Abbott and the team as
we continue to protect Texas
against this presidented influx
of illegal immigrants. Thank
you. Thank you. And now General
Seltzer, the leader of the
Texas National Guard. Thank
you, Governor. Uh good morning.
The Texas National Guard
executing a plan multi-phase
response, preparation for the
end of title forty-two. Phase
one began last month and is
complete and that involved the
shifting of troops to hot spots
along the border. It include
adding additional proteins,
deploying them to the border,
and increasing miles to the
Postina wire and other barrier
along the border of Texas. An
example of phase one operations
was the blue vent last month in
200 additional troops to El
Paso. The deployment of a drone
team to that area and the in
placement of 2-2 miles of
barrier which is protecting the
southern approach into the city
of El Paso. Yeah today, we
began phase two of this
operation which is the
deployment of two quick
reaction forces opposed of
military police units. One
quick reaction force is
currently in El Paso. This
second quick reaction force is
deploying today from San
Antonio and then will arrive in
the Rio Grande Valley this
morning. Phase 2 will be
complete today. What you are
seeing behind you is phase
three operations. And that’s
the calling up of the Tactical
Border Unit that the governor
spoke of. This unit is composed
of over 450 personnel. Today,
you’re seeing two elements in
that unit deployed to El Paso.
Additionally, you will see
helicopters taking off from the
ramp down south of here,
deploying an advanced party of
the the tactical mortar unit to
the Rio Grande Valley.
Tomorrow, the same operation
will occur again with two
elements of over 200 personnel
moving to the Rio Grande
Valley. By tomorrow, phase
three of this operation will be
completed. I had the honor of
eating dinner with these troops
last night. I can tell you the
morale is high and their
dedication to the state of
Texas is inspirational. Thank
you, General and now, Director
McCraw, the the leader of the
Texas Department of Hobby
Safety. Thank you, Governor.
Thank you, General. You’re
outstanding men and women do a
tremendous job on a daily
basis. So, god bless them. The
governors directed the
Department of Public Safety to
increase our resources at the
specifically. We’re going to be deploying hundreds of troopers
around the state. Enhanced
tactical teams, field force
operation teams for the border,
to hold the line. We’ve made it
very clear. There’s 29 places
you can cross in the US legally
and that’s where they’ll cross.
The job of Mexico Forces, the
Department of Public Safety,
assisted by our game wardens,
and other states resources to
hold that line and ensure
that’s the only place that they
cross at. Governor, thank you
for your leadership. Thank you.
We’ll take a few questions.
So, the the the with regard to the the troops that the United
States are putting on the
border. Uh understand this, the
1500 troops, the president just
announced he’s sitting at the
border. They’re doing
paperwork. They’re not going to
actually be on the border
trying to secure the border.
The goal of the president is
not to stop people coming
across the border illegally.
Our job and what we’re focused
on is trying to stop people
coming across the border
illegally. There’s not going to
be any entanglement with regard
whatsoever. Between the Texas
troops and what the president
is deploying because the
president is not going to have
his troops down there trying to
secure the border. Governor
Governor Governor. Go ahead
Paul.
So, last night, I spoke with the police chief of Brownsville
to learn more information as
well as communicated with the
county judge in Cameron County
which is where Brownsville is
located. Both of them said,
that because of the
circumstances, there’s a
massive ongoing investigation
to identify exactly what
happened and they expect
information to come out today
where they can tell the public
a lot more about what in. If it
was or was not intentional, the
circumstances of the driver and
continue to work with the
regard to the victims.
Just let’s be clear but yeah, listen. So, let let’s be clear
about what’s happened on the
border. Texas has the ability
to secure the border ourselves.
If we were acting in isolation,
we would have secured the
border. While Texas is doing
everything possible to try to
stop people from crossing the
border at the very same time,
the President of the United
States is sitting putting out
the welcome act, welcoming them
in. The cartels know. It’s the
federal government that
controls the immigration
process. The cartels are
working in collaboration with
President Biden and the federal
government to facilitate that
illegal cross border. Alright,
we are being overrun by our own
federal government. Texas is
being undermined by our own
fellow federal government in
our efforts to secure our
border. It’s only Joe Biden and
his open border policies has
hindered our ability to secure
the border.
Speak up please.
So first, obviously, we’re extraordinarily concerned about
the devastation that’s happened