Record Number of Migrants Crossed Texas Border in December
According to VOA and other news organizations, U.S. officials processed an approximate 300,000 people at the Texas/Mexico border in December. This is the highest number of migrants crossing into Texas en masse ever recorded.
Those estimates suggest that the first three months of fiscal 2024, which began in October, will set another record.
Texas has complained about the increased number of migrants crossing into the U.S. On multiple occasions, small border towns in Texas and the Rio Grande Valley have faced sudden influxes of thousands of migrants in the space of a few days.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has complained that the federal government's response to the crisis has been insufficient, both in terms of policy responses that would reduce the flow of migrants, and in terms of providing assistance in managing the care of the vast numbers of those who do cross the border.
In the past year Abbott has accelerated a program under which Texas transports large groups of migrants, by bus or by plane, to major U.S. cities, especially to Sanctuary Cities.
The Texas House approved three bills aimed at beefing up border security in October, one that would appropriate more than $1 billion for additional border barriers, one that would allow police officers to send back migrants who cross the border illegally and another that would increase penalties for human smugglers.
All three bills drew Democratic opposition, but the most contentious debate was House Bill 4, which would empower police officers to apprehend, arrest or send back migrants who cross the border illegally.
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