The Lone Star State is doubling down on its border defense with a hefty $1.54 billion price tag. Texas legislators have shoveled through a bill to keep building and bolstering barriers between Texas and Mexico, a move that ignites the perennial immigration debate whether you stand starry-eyed for the American Dream or firm with a badge on the border.
In a true testament to Texan resolve, Senate Bill 3 sailed through the Senate and onto Governor Greg Abbott's desk, where it's anticipated to be signed with the flourish of a Sharpie. The appropriation earmarks a lion's share, $1.5 billion, for the wall—the physical rebuttal to clandestine crossings—and tags another $40 million for state troopers to keep watch, particularly around the controversial Colony Ridge, which conservative voices claim is a hotspot for undocumented wayfarers, as reported by the Express-News.
Not to be outdone by its legislative counterpart, the Texas House passed a kindred bill, with Rep. Jacey Jetton, R-Richmond, at the helm. The House version lays down $1.54 billion for the same hard-line mission, inviting added scrutiny with transparency requests and green advocacy amendments, which, albeit valiant, fell flat in the face of a 17-11 vote split clean down party trenches, according to the Statesman.
The bills are Texas' retort, to what State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, and others decree, as federal failings at the southern border. “We have the money to spend, it is a priority of many Texans, it’s a priority of this Senate, and we're proceeding forward,” Huffman stated, touting the wall's deterrence dynamics and its role in corralling traffic to legal entry points. Her sentiment was echoed in the Senate's actions and reiterations by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick in his harsh critique of Uncle Sam's border management—or lack thereof.
While the ink's yet to dry on what some see as Abbott's gauntlet against immigration, others recoil at the spending spree on a polarizing issue with endless zeroes. Senator Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, voiced his incredulity, wondering if the well of funds for the border barrier will ever run dry. “It seems whenever they have some sort of political crisis and we need to drum up enthusiasm, we have a border crisis and we write them a check for 2 billion or a billion, or whatever it is," he posited. Meanwhile, the clock's ticking as both chambers lock horns to reconcile these twin yet distinct proposals into a singular, Abbott-pleasing piece of legislation.
