Gov. Greg Abbott hires “border czar” to accelerate wall construction

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s each day e-newsletter that retains readers up to pace on essentially the most important Texas news.

Gov. Greg Abbott introduced Monday the creation of a Texas “border czar” and mentioned he has appointed a lately retired Border Patrol agent to that place who will “tap his expertise to deploy strategies that reduce illegal immigration and keep our community safe.”

Abbott mentioned Mike Banks, who retired from Border Patrol 10 days in the past, will work alongside the Texas National Guard, state troopers and the Texas Facilities Commission to “accelerate the building of the border wall in Texas.”

Banks mentioned his high precedence in his new job “is to make the state of Texas the least desirable place for illegal immigration to cross. I don’t think it’s going to be that difficult. … We just need to be more aggressive.”

Since President Joe Biden got here into workplace, Abbott has closely criticized the president’s immigration insurance policies, and in March 2021, he launched Operation Lone Star — sending a whole bunch of National Guard troopers and state troopers to border counties to apprehend migrants crossing the border. Hundreds of migrants have been charged with misdemeanor trespassing and are being held in jail. The state has spent greater than $4 billion on the trouble since Operation Lone Star started.

During the Monday news convention in San Benito, Abbott mentioned “combating illegal immigration in Texas is a full-time job,” and “requires a leader whose only focus is responding” to the president’s immigration insurance policies.

Abbott didn’t provide specifics on Banks’ duties or how a lot he will likely be paid.

Abbott mentioned Banks labored for the Border Patrol for greater than 20 years, serving below 4 presidents, together with because the agent in control of Border Patrol stations in Weslaco and McAllen.

During the news convention, Abbott additionally highlighted ongoing border wall construction by the state and mentioned his workplace calculated that the state is spending $25 million per mile for wall construction.

So far, the state has erected a 1.7-mile stretch of wall on state-owned land in Starr County, a part of a $162 million contract awarded to New York-based Posillico Civil Inc. in November 2021 to construct eight miles of wall. Posillico Civil started one other phase of wall in December in Los Indios in Cameron County.

Since Abbott introduced the state would construct a wall in June 2021, the Texas Facilities Commission, the company in control of the venture, has awarded six contracts totaling $841 million to assemble and handle 37 miles of border barrier in Cameron, Starr, Val Verde, Webb and Zapata counties.