Texas lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a framework to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, including building a wall, allowing immigration officials to deport more illegal immigrants and designating Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, reports The Daily Caller.
"Texans are in imminent danger, and Texas leadership is right to use all powers under their authority to defend Texas' border and its citizens. Taxpayers in Texas are spending more than $3 billion on border security operations.
"Texans are being pummeled by a nearly two-yearlong border surge — left to defend their lives and their property against violent criminals and murderous cartels," the group, which includes Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Chip Roy, wrote in the plan, "Texans for Texans."
The framework also proposes reforms to the asylum process and an end to the Biden administration's attempts to limit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and deportations, among other things.
The Biden administration last week said migrant border crossings are expected to ramp up when a Trump-era border policy ends in late December.
A record 2.4 million migrants were stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 37% increase from a year earlier, according to data seen by Fox News. Fiscal year 2023 is on track to exceed that number.
The Texas lawmakers want the U.S. government to turn away all illegal immigrants if they cannot be detained and placed into systems like the "Remain in Mexico" policy.
"We will not stand by while the Biden Administration knowingly pushes disastrous policies with complete disregard for what our state and country are enduring," the lawmakers wrote in their plan.
"We commit to paying Texas back for border operations and damages. We commit to forcing the administration to enforce our current laws, and to leverage the power of the purse to ensure that it does. And we commit to immediately shifting policy to bring much needed security to our state and country."