Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested Congress on Thursday to provide the state $11 billion in taxpayer cash to reimburse it for what it’s spent in recent times plugging gaps within the border left by the Biden administration.
Mr. Abbott mentioned the state erected greater than 100 miles of its personal border wall, positioned 200 miles of razor wire and has stored Nationwide Guard and state troopers deployed for years.
They helped with arrests of greater than 500,000 unlawful immigrants, together with 50,000 felony arrests, and seized greater than a half-billion doses of fentanyl.
“Briefly, Texas stepped up the place the federal authorities refused and in doing so protected all People from President Biden’s harmful insurance policies,” Mr. Abbott mentioned in a letter asking for reimbursement.
He mentioned the state acted after Mr. Biden halted wall constructing and started catch-and-release applications that spurred an unprecedented border disaster.
Sen. John Cornyn, Texas’s senior Republican senator, mentioned he backed the governor’s request and can battle to get a rebate for the state.
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“Texas taxpayers who’ve been financing Operation Lone Star for 4 years can’t be forgotten,” he mentioned. “I’ll battle to incorporate funds in Congress’ reconciliation laws to reimburse Texas for its historic efforts to safe the border on account of the Biden administration’s full and whole absence and dereliction of responsibility.”
