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By Tony Farkas
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In his latest political raspberry to the U.S. government, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has channeled his inner Davy Crockett regarding the influx of illegal aliens into the state.
To paraphrase, it’s “I’m securing the border, and you may go to hell.”
The governor has ordered the Department of Public Service and the Texas National Guard as part of the strategy to secure the border.
To quantify the problem, 2.5 million illegal crossings were documented in 2023, topping the 2.2 million from 2022. There are more than 6,000 crossings per week so far this year, and it shows no sign of stopping.
On top of his busing of aliens to the so-called sanctuary cities throughout the country, the DPS has taken over Shelby Park in Eagle Pass after the governor declared the incursions an emergency. The move allows troopers to arrest illegal aliens, as well as keeping out federal Border Patrol agents.
In response to this, the feds, constitutionally required to protect the border and regulate immigration, filed a lawsuit against Texas, asking Daddy (the court) to make Texas give back the toys.
While all of this is going on, the border incursion continues.
The use of emergencies to precipitate a power grab is a double-edge sword; power obtained is rarely, if ever, returned, but the failure of the federal government to do its job and regulate immigration, pushing Texas to this particular brink, is unfathomable.
The U.S. Senate currently is hashing out some sort of legislation to deal with the crisis that our leaders, particularly President Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, say really doesn’t exist. (They say this while the sanctuary cities benefitting from Abbott’s busing plan scream for funds to help with the immigrant overload.)
That deal is mostly amnesty, with an annual increase in green cards, work permits and taxpayer-funded attorneys while allowing 5,000 immigrants a day forever and limiting the authority to expel anyone. It says nothing that I can find about deportations or dealing with the fact that there will be no repercussions for breaking our laws.
It would be easy to lay this at the feet of the current administration, but anyone with access to a history book or the internet can see this pattern repeating itself since at least the mid-1980s — overload the border, Congress throws up its hands, amnesty is issued, and we’re on to the next administration.
I’m aware of the arguments for allowing this, like humanitarian reasons or asylum from oppressive regimes, and I fully support anyone seeking a better life in what still could be the best country ever (my mother came over in the mid-1950s as part of the wave of displaced persons fleeing Eastern Europe following World War II), as long as it’s done legally.
In this instance, though, when both sides don’t care what the law is, it means that the people who live in the U.S. are played for fools — those having followed the rules to become citizens, and all of us forced to carry the financial burden, since governments are giving away health care and welfare.
Something has to be done, and ignoring the ramifications of unfettered access to the country isn’t the way to go.
Whether Abbott’s actions are good or bad in your eyes, what we all can agree on is that it’s a crying shame that it was necessary.
Tony Farkas is publisher of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of this publication.
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