{"id":21520,"date":"2019-05-28T16:46:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=21520"},"modified":"2019-05-28T16:59:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:59:24","slug":"texas-wont-raise-the-ante-at-border-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/05\/28\/texas-wont-raise-the-ante-at-border-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Won\u2019t Raise the Ante at Border"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
A Texas plan to add $100 million for border \u201csurge operations\u201d<\/a> was heading toward approval in the closing hours of the state Legislature. Then it hit a political brick wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A set of last-minute \u201ctechnical corrections\u201d took the money off the table the day before adjournment as Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican lawmakers bowed to resistance from minority Democrats. The Dallas Morning News<\/a> reported that the funds \u201capparently would have been for federal National Guard operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republican Rep. John Zerwas, the House’s chief budget\nwriter, characterized the $100 million as “a bit redundant.” Indeed,\nthe Legislature continued its biennial appropriation of $800 million for state\ntroopers along the nearly 2,000-mile Texas-Mexico border, the largest sum any\nstate contributes toward border enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But merely maintaining the status-quo is a losing proposition. Amid record waves of migrant \u201cfamily units\u201d and asylum seekers surging into South Texas<\/a>, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement admitted in March that federal authorities \u201ccannot secure the border in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n