Feds Crack Down on Illegal Border Crossings as Critics Decry Texas Tactics

LAREDO – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and management from Laredo Field Office are reminding the traveling public of inspection reporting requirements and advise that there is a significant monetary fine issued and the possibility of federal prosecution for those who attempt to depart the CBP inspection area without inspection.

While the liberal media decries the treatment of illegal migrants by Texas authorities under Operation Lone Star, the CBP has stepped up enforcement activities in South Texas as well.  

Yahoo news is reporting in recent weeks, Texas law enforcement officials have taken those tactics much further, embarking on what the state has called a “hold-the-line” operation, according to interviews with state officials and documents reviewed by The New York Times. They have fortified the riverbanks with additional concertina wire, denied water to some migrants, shouted at others to return to Mexico and, in some cases, deliberately failed to alert federal Border Patrol agents who might assist arriving groups in coming ashore and making asylum claims, the review found.

Yahoo says the increasingly 'brutal,' go-it-alone approach has alarmed people inside the U.S. Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency chiefly responsible for pursuing the governor’s border policies.

Texas officials have blamed the Biden administration for allowing a chaotic situation on the border. They said the buoy barrier and concertina wire were designed to deter people from risking a dangerous swim across the Rio Grande and direct them to safe, official border-crossing stations.

“No orders or directions have been given under Operation Lone Star that would compromise the lives of those attempting to cross the border illegally,” Abbott said in a joint statement with top officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department, using the name of the state operation.

The CBP, meanwhile, has also stepped up enforcement: “We want the traveling public to be mindful that they are subject to inspection when they enter the U.S. from a foreign country at the port of entry and those who would attempt to evade inspection or run the port face a $5,000 fine, vehicle seizure and may face criminal prosecution,” said Acting Director, Field Operations Eugene Crawford, Laredo Field Office.  “Would-be port runners pose a serious public safety threat to our officers and the traveling public. CBP remains committed to preventing such attempts, penalizing and prosecuting those who do and educating the community about inspection reporting requirements to prevent further port running attempts.”