Bypassing Biden, Besieged Texas Border County Appeals for Out-of-State Help
While mayors up north complain about migrants entering their cities, tiny Kinney County, Texas, has real problems down on the border, and is pleading for help.
In a letter calling for assistance from law enforcement agencies in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and beyond, Sheriff Brad Coe stated, “Our homes are being broken into in the middle of the night. The local school district has been forced to erect military barriers around campuses to protect students from smugglers. Walking outside our own property after dark is no longer safe.”
Last July, Kinney County officials declared an “invasion” by unprecedented numbers of migrants. With limited resources, Coe’s deputies have, since 2021, made more than 5,000 arrests of illegal aliens on local and state charges ranging from criminal trespassing to assault to kidnapping, and host of other felonies.
Though Kinney (population 3,130) has only a few miles of border frontage, the besieged county is wedged between Del Rio and Eagle Pass, busy ports of entry that have experienced massive influxes of migrants in recent months. Every day, illegal aliens transit through the rural county en route to San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and points north, leaving broken ranch fences, invaded homes and piles of trash in their wake.
“The Biden administration won’t do a thing about it,” said Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan. “They could stop this thing this hour. They don’t have the guts.”
More than 40 Texas counties have joined Kinney in formally declaring an invasion, or expressing support for a state declaration at the southern border. They say they are “experiencing local disaster situations as a result of inadequate border security.” Significantly, only three of the counties are actually on the border.
In November, Gov. Greg Abbott invoked the invasion clauses of the U.S. and Texas constitutions to authorize the Texans to take “unprecedented measures to defend our state.”
As of last summer, the governor’s Operation Lone Star had expended $4 billion deploying state troopers and National Guard units to assist the U.S. Border Patrol. But, reluctant to test federal authority, Texas has not attempted to remove illegal aliens.
Meantime, the hits keep on coming. “This crisis has made all counties a border county,” Sheriff Coe says.