On Wednesday, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith and several Texas sheriffs personally presented a letter endorsing the measures and policies implemented to fortify the southern border to Governor Greg Abbott.
“We request that our dangerous, chaotic Texas Border Emergency be officially declared a United States Constitutional Crisis,” the letter said in part.
“We just wanted the governor to know, we didn’t want him to be out there on an island by himself, that we were in full support of what he’s doing,” Smith stated.
Smith claimed that his own backyard is where the border crisis is developing.
“The deadly drugs that are coming across, the sex trafficking and everything else that’s coming across that we don’t stand for in the state of Texas,” Smith stated.
To try and halt illegal immigration, the state launched Operation Lone Star in 2021.
Abbott has since noted a notable decrease in the number of individuals entering Texas; yet, Smith stated that there are insufficient law enforcement resources.
“When they pull troopers from there to every other week, go to the border, our sheriff office has to step in and do the job, that’s sometimes the troopers do, which we’re glad to do, but we cannot sustain that,” Smith stated.
The Biden administration is being urged by Abbott and law enforcement to protect the Constitution and assist with this catastrophe.
“The state Constitution is put in place is working, our US Constitution is not working as far as immigration is concerned,” Smith stated.
Smith responded that while he recognizes the judges must take their time in making a decision, he is hopeful that the outcome would benefit them in light of SB4’s continued hold by appellate courts.
