As the border crisis rages, each state feels its own financial and human toll from the influx of illegal aliens who get help from the Biden administration to make their way into the interior of the United States and into
every congressional district
in the country. The border state of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott remain in the spotlight as the people there face some of the biggest
hardships
of any state two years into the Biden
border crisis
.
By 2021, Texans were already
paying
between $579 million and $717 million annually to provide medical care for illegal aliens, $152 million per year to house criminal illegal aliens in prisons, between $31 million and $63 million each year on education for
unaccompanied alien children
, and between $30 million and $38 million annually on perinatal coverage for illegal aliens through the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
One Midland, Texas, hospital
reported
in 2021 that the Biden border crisis cost it over $200,000 for the treatment of 40 children who crossed the border illegally over a two-month period after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened an emergency intake facility in its city.
In that same year, the
Texas Legislature had to appropriate
almost $3 billion to support the state’s border security efforts in the 2022-2023 budget cycle. For reference, in the past, the Legislature
had appropriated
$452 million across five-year terms for border security.
Operation Lone Star
was launched in 2021 to “use available resources to enforce all applicable federal and state laws to prevent the criminal activity along the border, including criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking.” As of September 2022, the operation had
cost
Texans over $4 billion. That
averages
about $2.5 million per week.
And of course, we cannot forget the human costs.
Human smuggling thrives
in the Lone Star State’s Border Patrol sectors. Illegal aliens
tragically die
in Texas and other border states while making the trek into the United States. American citizens at the border see their
property destroyed
and neighborhoods overrun. And Border Patrol agents are
assaulted and injured
.
In just over
one year of Operation Lone Star
, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard apprehended more than 233,000 aliens; conducted more than 13,600 criminal arrests (apart from the crime of crossing the border, including 11,000 felony charges); and seized more than 3,700 weapons, $30 million, and 298 million lethal doses of fentanyl.
Remember that these state numbers don’t include the currency, weapons, and
drugs pouring across the border
that federal law enforcement seizes or that evade detection altogether.
Abbott has
not been shy
about
assigning blame
for the border crisis and requesting help from the federal government, as enforcing our
immigration laws
and securing the homeland are primarily federal responsibilities.
Even after President Joe Biden finally visited the border in Texas last month after two years in office, the governor’s pleas continue to
fall on deaf ears
. After the president said he wanted to see “
peace and security
” at the border, the White House
ordered
the streets of El Paso cleared of the illegal aliens living there before Biden’s visit in an attempt to hide the reality of his border crisis.
As Texas demonstrates, when the federal government fails to do its job securing our nation, states are left to single-handedly
prevent illegal immigration
and protect their own borders as best as possible—often at an incredibly high cost.
Texas has already taken several steps to do this. It has
outlawed sanctuary cities
and
alien smuggling
, dozens of local Texas sheriffs’ offices
partner with federal law enforcement
in an effort to protect their communities from criminal aliens, and the state attorney general has led the charge in
suing the Biden administration
for its illegal and disastrous border and immigration policies.
However, no matter how much legislation is passed or how hard officials work to enforce the law and keep citizens safe, the administration fights the state every step of the way.
Rather than leaving states like Texas at the mercy of the Biden administration’s radical, open-border agenda, members of Congress must answer the call from the American people and
keep their campaign promises
to
step up
and restore border security as well as hold Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Homeland Security
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable
for the damage they have done to our country.
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This article originally appeared in the Daily Signal and is reprinted with kind permission from the Heritage Foundation.
