Michael Cardinal, FISM News
The crisis at the southern border continues to grow despite cries from the public and legislators on both sides of the aisle that something needs to be done to halt the flow of people entering the country. A tragedy along a southern Texas highway has highlighted this concern and has shown how the political infighting has tied the hands of those directly dealing with the border surge.
On Wednesday, a van carrying 29 illegal immigrants from the southern border crashed, killing 10, including the driver, and injuring 20 more. The overloaded van tipped over after trying to veer off the highway and crashed into a metal pole. The names of those who died from the crash have not been released as all of the families have not yet been informed.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the transportation of illegal immigrants has become a growing unlawful enterprise for those along the southern border as criminal organizations recruit people in America to drive people to various locations for a portion of their smuggling fee. In response to this, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order last week forbidding anyone except law enforcement officials from transporting illegal immigrants from the southern border. The order also authorized law enforcement officers to pull over vehicles suspected of transporting illegal immigrants. A federal judge, however, blocked the order, ruling that “it conflicts with, and poses an obstacle to, federal immigration law.”
Abbott has said that he will present evidence to hopefully reverse the order, as he believes it falls in line with COVID-19 protection measures:
The Biden administration has knowingly, and willfully, released COVID-19 positive migrants into Texas communities, risking the potential exposure and infection of Texas residents. The governor’s executive order attempts to prevent the Biden administration from spreading COVID-19 into Texas and protect the health and safety of Texans.’
In court papers filed in a Title 42 lawsuit, Department of Homeland Security official David Shahoulian revealed new alarming statistics regarding the southern border. In the document he said that Border Patrol Agents had encountered 210,000 immigrants trying to illegally cross the border in the month of July alone – making for the the largest number in over 20 years, and a 413% increase from last July.
Legislators are calling on Biden to turn his attention to the border and do more to protect Americans. Ron DeSantis directed comments to President Biden in a press conference on Tuesday saying, “Why don’t you get this border secure, and until you do that I don’t want to here a blip about COVID from you.” Ted Cruz also took to Fox News to highlight his concerns that the President Biden and Vice President Kamal Harris “don’t care” about the amount of people entering the country illegally.
We’ve had over 1,000,000 illegal aliens cross the border in the last six months under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and they don’t care. pic.twitter.com/785wxoHiVL
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 5, 2021
A recent Harvard Poll shows that 80% of Americans see the border crisis as a serious issue and 68% believe that President Biden’s immigration policy encourages illegal immigration. The poll also shows that 67% believe that illegal immigrants should be turned back at the border, though Biden has expressed a goal of creating a much more open border.