Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has nearly doubled spending on border security, including using state funds for a wall along the Rio Grande championed by former President Donald Trump.
House Bill 9, which Abbott signed Friday in Fort Worth, provides $1.8 billion in state funding for border security over the next two years, including $750 million for the border wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for.
Facing re-election next year, Abbott signed the legislation at the Fort Worth Police Officers Association headquarters and was joined for the ceremony by the bill's authors. The legislation was passed in a second special session.
Abbott, a Republican who has adopted Trump’s campaign issues, has used the border crisis as a weapon against Trump’s successor, Democrat Joe Biden.
"This is basically signing a multi-billion dollar check," Abbott said as he signed the bill into law.
The push for a wall came amid a flood of Haitian refugees who were camped out under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. Del Rio Mayor Bruno Lozano estimated the refugee numbers at 14,534 on Saturday. U.S. immigration has begun returning the migrants to Haiti, where life is perilous after a series of natural disasters and a presidential coup.
Abbott also signed legislation restoring funding for the legislative branch that he vetoed after the regular session to punish Democratic lawmakers for opposing his demand for voter restrictions.
After Democrats fled the state to prevent passage of the voting restrictions in the first special session, Democrats returned to Austin, where the limits on voting were passed.
In a third special session, Republicans will design congressional and state legislative districts.
In the upcoming session, a bill has been filed that would allow Texans to reduce their property taxes by making donations to the border wall, which Abbott has sought to build through voluntary fundraising and state taxes.
House Bill 32, introduced by Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royce City, would reduce property taxes paid to local school districts. The state would then reimburse the districts for lost revenue. The state comptroller would pay the districts from the state enterprise fund if there is a sufficient balance.
“In the event that the Texas Enterprise Fund does not maintain a positive balance on the date the comptroller is required to make a payment, the comptroller shall make the payment using undedicated money in the general revenue fund,” the bill says.
In addition to redistricting, Abbott has called for a ban on transgendered children participating in sports for their reassigned gender.
In June, Abbott announced a $250 million "down payment" for Texas to build its own border wall, using one-tenth of the annual state prison budget.
In response, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging her to block use of federal funds given for pandemic relief for the border wall. Abbott's call for the third special session includes allocation of the federal funds.
“Just as he unsuccessfully tried to steal federal education money from our schools, Governor Abbott may try to divert federal recovery funds from Texans to educate voters that he’s a mini-Trump on the wall,” Doggett said. “With so many needs in Texas, spending for a useless wall is truly outrageous. With Abbott having already wasted millions on his pseudo-border security effort, we are determined to restrain him from robbing the recovery funds to misuse for this boondoggle.”
Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $333 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement, according to the
The U.S. Border Patrol operates on a nearly $4.9 billion budget.
Abbott has said Texas must take over border patrol responsibilities from the federal government, drawing no organized objections from Texas taxpayers.
“It is the federal government’s job to secure our border, but the Biden administration has failed to do its job, so Texas is stepping up to do what the federal government is supposed to do,” Abbott said in Fort Worth Friday.
