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Texas Governor Greg Abbott is demanding that the federal government reimburse his state for more than $11.1 billion in taxpayer money spent to secure the southern border during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Abbott, who sent letters to members of the US Congress on Thursday, said the “refusal of the Biden administration to do its job for the last four years” led to the crisis on the southern border that has spilled over to the rest of the country.
“President Biden’s policies left Texas and the rest of America defenseless against an unprecedented infiltration of violent criminals, known terrorists and other hostile foreign actors, such as the dangerous Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua,” the governor wrote.
House GOP introduces bill to reimburse Texas for billions spent securing border
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the federal government to reimburse his state for the more than $11 billion in taxpayer money it has spent on border security over the past four years. (Reuters/Callaghan O’Hare)
In response to the federal government’s lack of action on the border, Abbott took matters into his own hands and launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, which deployed the Texas National Guard and the state Department of Public Safety United-Mexico
Operation Lone Star has reduction of illegal immigration in Texas by 87 percent over the past four years, demonstrating the “effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s border measures,” according to Abbott, who added that his efforts have shone a national spotlight on the crisis.
The governor explained that the operation has also led to the apprehension of more than half a million illegal immigrants, stopped more than 140,000 illegal attempts to enter the United States, made more than 50,000 arrests penalties, they took more than half a million Lethal doses of fentanyl, built more than 150 miles of border barriers and established the only National Guard base along the Texas-Mexico border.
“In short, Texas stepped up where the federal government refused, and in doing so, protected all Americans from President Biden’s dangerous policies,” Abbott wrote.
House Republicans renew push to defund Texas over ‘Operation Lone Star’ border security opinion
While proud of the operation, Abbott noted that its success came at a high price of more than $11.1 billion, which has been, and continues to be paid for by Texas taxpayers when “it should have been the responsibility of the federal government”.
In a cost-cutting document, Abbott said that before the Biden administration, the state of Texas spent roughly $800 million every two years to supplement federal efforts at the border.
Illegal immigrants walk past coils of razor wire as they cross the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, in March 2024. The wire was placed by troops at Texas Gov. , Greg Abbott ” in Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
“The burden our state has endured is the direct result of a refusal by the federal government to do its job,” Abbott wrote. “The work that Texas has done through Operation Lone Star has protected and will continue to benefit the entire country.”
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House Republicans have introduced bills in the past calling for Texas to be reimbursed for the billions spent to border security, But the legislation never passed.
