The state of Texas has installed razor wire along its border with New Mexico to block illegal aliens from crossing.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently deployed the Texas National Guard to install the razor wire barrier along the bank of the Rio Grande near Sunland Park, New Mexico. Located in Dona Ana County, Sunland Park is situated west of El Paso in Texas and directly above the city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico’s Chihuahua state. Abbott confirmed the move, part of the Lone Star State’s effort to secure the southern border, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Our barriers around El Paso forced the migrants crossing illegally to enter into New Mexico. They then entered El Paso from there,” the governor explained. “To end that, we are building a barrier on the New Mexico border.”
Local news outlet KFOX 14 posted an image on X that showed Texas guard members placing the wire along the border. It added that the razor wire barrier is being reinforced with concertina wire, a type of wire that features razor blades at regular intervals.
According to the Epoch Times, the latest barrier erected in Sunland Park is part of Texas’ Operation Lone Star initiative to address the influx of illegal aliens crossing unlawfully through the southern border. The state has allocated billions for border security – installing razor wire, constructing its own border wall and placing a floating barrier along a section of the Rio Grande. (Related: Texas to place FLOATING BARRIERS along Rio Grande River to block border crossers.)
Earlier in October, Abbott posted a video on X that showed a section of the border wall already erected in Webb County – which borders the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. “Webb County border wall construction is ongoing,” the governor wrote. “We’re the first and only state to build our own border wall.”
New Mexico officials rebuke Abbott’s move as “political stunt”
Several lawmakers from the Land of Enchantment held a virtual roundtable on Oct. 13, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. They discussed problems at the southern border, specifically Sunland Park where Texas troops erected razor wire two days later on Oct. 15.
Caroline Sweeney, a spokeswoman for New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, called Abbott’s plan to install the barrier – a plan the Texas chief executive pushed through with – as nothing more than a “political stunt.”
“We encourage Abbott to turn his attention away from a never-ending stream of political stunts,” Sweeney said. The spokeswoman also urged the Texas governor to work “in earnest for the people of the state he was elected to represent.” Meanwhile, Lujan Grisham did not respond to a request for comment sent by the Epoch Times.
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), an attendee at the virtual roundtable, said Texas and New Mexico need to work with each other on the issue. “There needs to be better cooperation,” the congressman remarked.
While Sunland Park is not in Texas, it falls under the purview of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) El Paso Sector. “The El Paso Sector actually monitors and operates across the entire 180 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border across my entire district,” continued Vasquez. “So from the federal level, there’s coordination between Texas and New Mexico.”
But this isn’t the case at the state level, according to the congressman and former councilman for the city of Las Cruces in New Mexico. He said: “At the state level, we have seen that some of Abbott’s actions that he has taken have been without consultation – both without federal stakeholders … [and] without New Mexico stakeholders.”
Vasquez, who is up for re-election in 2024, acknowledged that many federal agencies in charge of border security are in dire straits.
“Right now, many of our federal agencies are underfunded [and] understaffed. [They] lack the resources needed to effectively help control what’s happening at our [southern] border and keep our communities safe,” he said. “I’m committed to addressing these issues.”
Visit BorderSecurity.news for more stories about Texas’ efforts to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
