A dozen South Texas counties\nhave declared a state of disaster due to the growing illegal immigration\ncrisis. Announcing that \u201chealth, life and property [are under]imminent\nthreat,\u201d beleaguered officials say the influx of border crossers is\ncannibalizing their limited resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is getting crazier and crazier and crazier,\u201d said Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr.<\/a>, who reported numerous chases had occurred in his town over a 15-minute span on a recent evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even counties that have yet to declare emergencies encounter daily run-ins with daredevil coyotes and their illegal alien cargo. A high-speed chase in West Texas<\/a> last month ended in the backyard of the Presidio County sheriff\u2019s home. As with most such pursuits, migrants bailed out and eluded authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motels in rural communities are filling up with asylum-seeking migrants. The federal government and social-service agencies like Endeavors<\/a> pay for their transportation, room and board. But local hospitals, schools and law enforcement, left to fend for themselves, are straining to the breaking point. \u201cThere has been no surge in assistance for border counties,\u201d Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback told a congressional delegation in the Rio Grande Valley town of Edinburg last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Far beyond the border, 90-plus illegal aliens were found crammed inside a Houston<\/a> home last week, apparent victims of a human-smuggling operation. Days before, 33 Guatemala nationals turned up in a stash house in Midland<\/a>, a Permian Basin oil city. In San Antonio<\/a>, unaccompanied minors from a migrant detention center were reportedly released to traffickers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If, through its feckless and\nreckless policies, the U.S. government has become \u201cthe logistics arm of the\ncartels,\u201d as Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., suggested in Edinburg, Texans and\nmigrants are paying a terrible price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gov. Greg Abbott has not\ndeclared a statewide emergency and declined to activate National Guard units\nrequested by the disaster-declaring jurisdictions. But the Republican did\ndirect all 254 counties to submit an accounting of illegal alien-related costs,\nwhich he will forward to Washington for reimbursement. (Good luck with\nthat.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n