MIDLAND, Texas — "They have picked the wrong state to come into."
That was the message that Gov. Greg Abbott sent to migrants trying to cross the border illegally. This coming Thursday, as Abbott talked about the border crisis during a roundtable discussion in Midland with law enforcement officials from nearby counties.
Abbott told law enforcement that more resources were heading to the border in the form of 7,500 more patrol officers.
"We are now deploying more than 7,500 patrol officers, whether they be DPS or national guard members, to the border where we are providing more manpower than ever before to secure our borders," Abbott said.
Abbott believes that local law enforcement, such as our sheriff's offices and police departments, are critical in dealing with the border crisis.
"Local law enforcement plays a vital role in helping us deal with the consequences of Biden‘s open border policies," Abbott said. "The local law enforcement in the border counties themselves, they are on the front lines of having to deal with the waves of people coming into the United States."
Abbott also made it very clear that anyone who tries to cross the border illegally will be prosecuted and face jail time.
"If, however, people do cross the border into the state of Texas, they need to understand that they are going to be dealing with a criminal justice system," Abbott said. "And because of the action that we’ve taken under my executive order, we are now making arrests of people who are coming across the border trespassing in Texas."
It's efforts like those that Steve McCraw, director and colonel of the Texas DPS, believes helps people who do live on the border feel safer.
"In so doing, it makes it safer for communities in West Texas, in all of Texas, and really for the nation because as the border goes, so goes the state, so goes the nation," McCraw said.
Abbott plans to also provide law enforcement agencies with the tools and strategies they need to combat any type of crime due to President Biden's open border policy, whether it be drug related, smuggling, trafficking or any other type of crime.
Abbott also said that he expects construction on the border wall to begin soon and that parts of the wall should be up by the end of 2021. All of this done in an effort to secure the border.