Let’s establish a Border Protection Unit so Texas can defend itself

It was a routine highway stop for a small moving violation in North Texas’ Young County. The deputy who approached the vehicle was greeted with silence from three adults in front who only spoke Romanian, no English. In the back of the vehicle were three young Hispanic children, one an infant, and a Hispanic woman — again, no English. They were obviously victims of trafficking.

The deputies phoned Immigration and Customs Enforcement but were told that ICE would not assist or intervene. Having no solid evidence of a crime to detain for, and with no mandate to separate the children from their “guardians,” the deputies were forced to let them go. Young County Sheriff Travis Babcock told me that story when I asked him at one of my campaign events what sort of impact he’s feeling from the Biden administration’s purposeful border crisis. According to the sheriff, these types of encounters happen every day, even in his county’s peaceful small towns.

By privileging migrants over Texans, we slowly turn Texas into the Third World.

Those of us who don’t work in law enforcement are seeing similar signs of chaos. Our teachers are being asked to serve more and more non-English speakers in their classrooms. Our medical professionals are required to accept and treat thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens in emergency rooms. The more strain on our system, the worse it gets for us — and where I live in Denton, locals are wondering why our laws put border-hoppers ahead of Americans.

Seeing the devastation caused by our open border is what lit a fire under me to run for office. I’ve taken as hard a stance as any candidate can on stopping illegal border crossings, discouraging mass immigration, and deporting every single person who is in this state and this country illegally. That’s what the law already requires, and that’s what I’m running on — and I have a plan to do it.

Past efforts suffered from poor execution

Our state has multiple world-class law enforcement agencies. But they’re stretched to their limits dealing with the criminal element of every Third World country on earth, living outside the law here in our neighborhoods.

My own brother was a state trooper who participated in Operation Lone Star. According to him, the 2021 Texas border protection initiative was well-intentioned, but it was not well resourced or executed in a way that would actually protect our border.

Operation Lone Star took my brother out of his community for a set number of days each month to sit in a patrol car in one of our southern border towns. He would wait until he saw an illegal border crosser, detain him, document the exchange, then drive him to a gas station and let him go. There was no other custody option.

“I don’t know what we’re doing or why we’re doing it,” he told me. “I’m exhausted from doing this extra work, but I’d be more than willing if we were actually protecting Texans from the flood of illegals. Right now, it feels like we’re doing it for show.”

Exasperated by the lack of urgency about border protection, my brother retired from the force and opened a business instead.

A new agency to enforce a new law

This is not how a country that is serious about its future acts. It’s national suicide. I love America, and I am raising my five children to love their country, too. But those who come to live on our free handouts don’t love her. I worry that my children will grow up in a country where the laws privilege those who disregard them. By privileging Third World migrants over Texans, we slowly turn Texas into the Third World.

Kyle Sims, a child advocate and conservative activist in my district, has seen the slum-ification of our area firsthand.

“Most of the children who are brought across the border are being trafficked by cartels,” he told me. “Shepherd’s Watch Foundation, a nonprofit that fights human trafficking, has measured the impact of their arrival in Grayson County, where 150 online ‘escort’ sites have cropped up, along with six brick-and-mortar brothels. Neighboring Collin County has even more, including massage parlors, RV parks, and Air B&Bs that service sex work clientele.”

If we don’t stop mass immigration now, Texas will become just like the Third World. Electing a Republican president is only a temporary fix. The next Democrat will just start Biden’s crisis over again. It’s their goal. Texas needs a comprehensive border plan that’s in Texan hands to safeguard our state in perpetuity.

Last year, Texas state Rep. Matt Schaefer (R) proposed just such a plan: the Border Protection Unit Act. His bill would have created a new law enforcement authority with agents who can stop border crossers from breaking the law, including by building barriers, arrest and detention, and referral for deportation.

With the recent passage of Senate Bill 4, which affirms the authority of Texas law enforcement to arrest illegal border crossers, now is the time for a Border Protection Unit that will give Texas the weapon it needs to take full advantage of the law.

Schaefer has since retired, but his bill should be resurrected as a partnership between law enforcement and state military — and combined with legislation that would enable officers and employers to check citizenship status. Illegal aliens should not be immune to prosecution or given a free pass when detained. Liberal “hospitality” sends the wrong message and yields inhumane results.

This is an election year, and Joe Biden has every incentive to stop the flow of illegal immigration — yet his border crisis is still outpacing Texas’ ability to keep up with it. After November, if a Democrat is still president, things will only get worse. I’m asking voters to send me to Austin to effect real border protection in Texas, no matter who sits in the White House. I’ll do what it takes to keep Texas from becoming part of the Third World — and I know the vast majority of Texans will be with me.