Last night, the Texas House of Representatives, composed of eighty-six Republicans and sixty-four Democrats, passed their bi-annual legislative budget for the state of Texas for the years of 2024 and 2025. It included billions of dollars in appropriations to public schools, roads, bridges, district hospitals, state and local law enforcement, etc.
Markedly, this budget awarded a record breaking amount of money to Border Security: $4.6 Billion.
Most of these dollars will undoubtedly be given directly to Operation Lone Star, Governor Greg Abbott’s flagship project which attempts to secure the border at the state level. Let the record show that not one illegal alien, under any state operation including Operation Lone Star, has been removed from the state of Texas.
Texans for Strong Borders stepped in preemptively and asked for the following amendments so we could see worthwhile action take place in the fight against illegal immigration:
- Finish President Trump’s Wall
- Appropriate the funds necessary to finish the Texas border wall and designate all excess monies to cover the cost of removing and repelling illegal aliens in Texas or from entering Texas.
- End Handouts to Illegal Aliens
- Ensure no funds from the budget have a chance to end up in the hands of illegal aliens by requiring all applicants for state funded programs, projects, resources, etc. apply through the S.A.V.E. program.
- Make English the Official Language of Texas
- Strike any appropriations that include the public posting of any language other than English or the promotion and cultivation of any language other than English.
- Tax Remittances to Foreign Nations
- Create a way in which money transmissions out of the United States from Texas can be taxed at a ten percent rate and use the funds created from this tax to buy down property and sales taxes.
None of these amendments were authored and Texas has still yet to remove one illegal alien from the state.