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The Texas National Guard has begun utilizing concertina wire on the border of Mexico along the Rio Grande.
The Texas Military Department announced this week that it will use concertina wire to deter trespassing over the U.S.-Mexico border near the Rio Grande. Concertina is a type of razor wire that unrolls in a helical shape to cover the most area possible. Trying to push through any type of razor wire without proper protection can cause severe lacerations.
“Operation Lone Star has currently constructed more than 17 miles of concertina wire along the South West border to continue to prevent, detour, and interdict transnational criminal activity and illegal migration,” the Texas Military Department told Fox News in an exclusive statement. “The intent is to install concertina wire along state property and private property with consent of the property owners.”
“Operation Lone Star continues to work toward finding effective and efficient ways to support securing the South West border in support of our interagency partners,” the TMD added.
MIGRANT IN POTENTIALLY THE LARGEST CARAVAN EVER DEMANDS BIDEN KEEP ASYLUM PROMISE
The Texas National Guard installed concertina wire along the Rio Grande River.
(Fox News)
The TMD’s concertina strategy is only the latest in decades of initiatives attempting to slow illegal immigration from Mexico into the U.S. The overwhelming influx of migrants has been declared an emergency by many states along the Mexican border, and many governors have criticized President Biden for a lack of assistance.
The crisis has become politically challenging for the White House, seemingly leading to Biden’s change of tune when it comes to migrants seeking refuge in the U.S.
The Biden administration continues its fight to end Title 42, a Trump-era rule that allows the U.S. to expel asylum seekers without the typical legal process.
The policy was enacted early in the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to help prevent the virus from spreading. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced earlier this year that it planned to lift the order.
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Migrants, many from Central American and Venezuela, walk along the Huehuetan highway in Chiapas state, Mexico, early Tuesday, June 7, 2022. The group left Tapachula on Monday, tired of waiting to normalize their status in a region with little work and still far from their ultimate goal of reaching the United States. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
However, a Louisiana U.S. district judge granted a stay in a lawsuit brought by 24 states, ruling that the restrictions can stay in place until the lawsuit is resolved. The states have argued that lifting the rule would lead to a “wave of illegal migration and drug trafficking.”
Biden has attempted to thread the needle by pressing would-be illegal migrants to apply for asylum from their home regions.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent at the Mexico-U.S. border scans the Rio Grande for rafts near McAllen, Texas, U.S., May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Loren Elliott – RC12E7ABE080
(REUTERS/Loren Elliott)
“Don’t leave your town or city or community,” Biden said in an interview with ABC last year. “We’re gonna make sure we have facilities in those cities and towns run by department of — by DHS and also access with HHS, the Health and Human Services, to say you can apply for asylum from where you are right now.”
Fox News’s Michael Lee contributed to this report.
