Illegal immigrants continue to pour across the border into Texas, according to Gov. Greg Abbott, and he wants Congress and the White House to take action to repatriate them,
CNSNews.com reports.
Since New Year's Day, "we have had more than 20,000 people come across the border, apprehended, unauthorized," Abbott said Sunday on
CBS' "Face the Nation."
"We have an ongoing problem on the border that Congress must step up and solve," said Abbott, who was sworn in as governor last month.
"Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer pointed out that an estimated 800,000 illegals are living in Texas right now. "What are you going to do with all of them?" he asked.
"Well, two things," Abbott replied. "One is, the president himself said as these people were coming across the border that he would repatriate them as soon as possible. So, we need to see whether or not the president himself is going to live up to the commitment that he made."
Abbott said the second thing is for Congress to decide how to deal with the millions of people who are in the United States illegally: "And so we need Congress to have the latitude to fulfill its responsibility to solve the problem."
As the governor was being interviewed about the situation on national television, a south Texas federal prison holding illegal immigrants was
reeling from the effects of weekend rioting.
The Willacy County Correctional Center in Raymondville, about 40 miles from the Mexico border, was severely damaged when prisoners refused to come to breakfast and set fire to tents in the prison yard. Hundreds of inmates at the facility are being transferred to other federal prisons as a result of the rioting and the ensuing damage to prison facilities.
As governor of Texas, Abbott said he will ask Texas taxpayers to do the job that the federal government is supposed to do — securing the border. He plans to add improved technology and more Department of Public Safety officers and Texas Rangers to handle the influx.
Last year,
The New York Times reported that illegal aliens were coming to the United States "in droves" after hearing reports that people who make it across the border into the United States were being allowed to remain in the country.
"Word has gotten out that we're giving people permission and walking them out the door," said Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent who is vice president of the local National Border Patrol Council, the border agents' union.
"So, they're coming across in droves," he told the Times.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.