At the close of the 88th legislative session on May 28th, Governor Greg Abbott called for an immediate special session to address property tax relief and border security.
In regards to ‘Border Security’, Abbott set forth guidelines for language, specifically: “Legislation solely for the purpose of increasing or enhancing the penalties for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house.”
Texans for Strong Border immediately recognized this language, as it matched that of HB 800, the bill authored during the regular session that prompted our press release calling on Abbott to widen the call for Border Security during the special session. Our reasoning was simple: as written, HB 800 only addresses one fragment of the colossal Border crisis.
Despite his bold promises, Abbott’s actions have fallen woefully short of tackling the crisis head-on and protecting our beloved state.
The border invasion has reached unprecedented levels, putting an enormous strain on our state’s infrastructure and institutions, endangering the safety of Texans. Meanwhile, Abbott’s response has been nothing short of a disappointment. While he called for a special session, it appears that truly addressing border security was not on his agenda this time around.
TFSB will continue to call on Governor Abbott to call another special session with three things in mind: cutting off the magnets, repelling the invasion, and removing every illegal alien from the state of Texas.