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Houston (United States) (AFP) – The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, appointed a “border czar” on Monday to accelerate the construction of the wall on the southern border of the United States with Mexico, given the “refusal” of the Biden administration to contain migration.
“It’s a full-time job, requiring a leader whose sole focus is responding to the president’s open border policies. [Joe] Biden,” Abbott said before overseeing the installation of a portion of the wall in the southernmost city of San Benito.
The new “czar”, Mike Banks, is a retired border guard, decorated and with more than three decades of experience on the border with Mexico and part of his mission will be to “accelerate the construction of the border wall in Texas”, added Abbott.
“A border wall (…) is just one way Texas is responding to President Biden’s refusal to enforce immigration laws,” the right-wing governor said.
Abbott is one of the promoters of the severe border control measures launched during the Donald Trump administration, and a staunch critic of Biden, whom he blames for the growing irregular migration in the country.
The czar will work with the Military Department and the Department of Public Safety of Texas, as part of “Operation Lone Star” launched in 2021 to “deter and repel migrants who illegally cross into Texas from Mexico,” the state government explained in a statement.
Abbott said that the procedures to acquire the rights to some of the land where the construction will extend have been accelerated, “so we can build more wall in the future,” he added. It costs $25 million per mile to build, he said.
The US-Mexico border stretches for about 1,900 miles (3,100 km), more than half in Texas.
On Monday, the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, defended a government program to allow the monthly entry of 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who have a sponsor in the United States and arrive by air.
But several red states, including Texas, have sued the Biden government over this measure, which they consider to be against the law and, according to Abbott, “will attract even more people to cross the border illegally.”
© 2023 AFP
