McCarthy Serves Up Mayorkas Ultimatum
with Search for Hook for Impeachment

Capitol Inside
November 23, 2022

As Texas moved swiftly to arm itself with tanks and watercraft that are built for combat in the face of a purported invasion from Mexico, the number of migrant apprehensions that federal agents recorded in October plunged 54 percent in the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo compared to the monthly average for the entire fiscal year 2022.

An analysis of new federal data found that the total count of migrants who were apprehended in Texas jumped 33 percent last month when sized up against the average number that were logged in the previous 12 months in the five U.S. Border Patrol districts here.

But the El Paso sector accounted for more than half the apprehensions in Texas last month with an increase of almost 281 percent compared to the average there each month in fiscal year 2022. When El Paso is subtracted from equation as an outlier on the state's far western tip, the Texas migrant apprehensions tally actually dropped almost 9 percent in October.

El Paso has always been a popular entry point as the largest Texas border city that's halfway between Houston and Los Angeles. on the Rio Grande. But the Del Rio sector experienced the most dramatic surge by far in October when migrant apprehensions spiked 50 percent compared to the average during the past 12 months. Del Rio had one of the lowest volumes of traffic from migrant crossings until a fairly abrupt shift to the north from the Valley and Laredo in the past two years.

The latest snapshot shows the flow of immigrants into Texas from the south rising at rates that are record-breaking but expected and predictable in light of explosive population and increasing concentration of people in third world countries that are perpetually deteriorating and rife with political strife and persecution. The numbers for the past year are substantially inflated by an exponential post-pandemic surge after falling in the first year of the COVID-19 as people delayed there journeys to pursue their right to seek legal asylum in the U.S. whereever they choose.

The number are destined to skyrocket regardless of how much resistance the state tries to throw up or to make it appear that it's doing to defuse the wave against which it's been helpless beyond the appearance of border security with the expensive mission Operation Lone Star.

Governor Greg Abbott refused for months to give into demands from the far right for an invasion declaration beyond finally acquiescing a week after the November midterm election with an order that declared that people are invading the Lone State State from the south. Abbott said that he'd granted himself unprecedented power that would allow him to use the state police and military to enforce federal immigration because President Joe Biden hasn't done it way the top Texas leader demands.

Abbott warned Biden of the state's new powers and intent to do what it takes to beat back the invasion that he envisions but has offered no meaningful evidence to substantiate. Knowing that Abbott's order is no more than empty rhetoric as red meat for Donald Trump conservatives, the president ignored the invasion maneuvering for most of a week before finally dismissing it more of the same meddling that's become expected.

Abbott sought to underscore his pledge to take whatever actions are required to turn back the invasion that he waited to consecrate until after a victory over Democrat Beto O'Rourke in the general election two weeks ago. With the governor's unenforceable invasion order as formal justification, the state has procured a small caravan of armed vehicles that are tantamount to tanks as it gears up for armed conflict with an enemy that it's yet to actually specify. Operation Lone Star leaders - in an apparent attempt to show that Abbott is serious about the threat of war on the Rio Grande - also are flaunting an unspecified number of gunboats which are commonly used for attacking targets on the shores.

The state also has acquired 10 armed personnel carriers that were made for combat when they were first used by the U.S. in Vietnam in the early 1960s. Also known as M113s, the compact tanks that will be used for Abbott's War on the Rio Grande to repel migrants from invading Texas. The state, however, does not have the authority to use fire any of its new artillery unless fired on in a coordinated attack. The military buildup on the border could be designed to scare drug cartel lords and human smugglers into other lines of work. In reality, however, the only certain repercussion of the invasion power play will be inflation in the illegal narcotics trade in Texas and the U.S.

Abbott remained mum when the Texas migrant apprehension count soared nearly 88 percent in 2019 compared to the year before when Donald Trump was president. The governor took a latent interest in illegal immigration after Biden ousted Trump from the White House - and the silence that was deafening has since erupted into loud and incessant roar with constant beratings of the nation's commander-in-chief.

The soon-to-be speaker's entourage in El Paso featured Republican U.S. Reps Brian Babin of Houston, Dan Crenshaw of Houston, Tony Gonzales of San Antonio and August Pfluger of Amarillo and colleagues from other states.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

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