FAIR’s Border School Provides Legislators and Law Enforcement Officers Tools to Tackle the Border Crisis

States and localities all across the country now share a common problem: a massive influx of illegal aliens who are being released into the United States by the Biden-Harris administration. While sanctuary jurisdictions, that welcome and protect illegal aliens, complain about the burdens being imposed on them and demand more federal money to pay for the problem, others are trying to do something about it.

State and local leaders are increasingly turning to FAIR (and each other) to devise effective strategies to deter the relentless flows of illegal aliens from settling in their communities. FAIR’s State and Local Engagement department has vast experience working with state and local legislators and law enforcement agencies to protect the interests and security of people in those jurisdictions.

One of the ways the State and Local Engagement department makes a difference is through our annual Border School event. This year’s Border School, held in mid-September, brought more than a hundred local government officials and sheriffs to McAllen, Texas. There, they were briefed by policy experts about the latest immigration developments and, equally as important, had a chance to share strategies with their colleagues from around the country about what works (and doesn’t work) when it comes to addressing the border crisis.

McAllen itself proved to be a valuable classroom. Just a year ago, that city, along with others along the Rio Grande River, was Ground Zero for the unprecedented surge of illegal immigration. What this year’s attendees saw was vastly different, as they were led on a tour of the border area by U.S. Border Patrol agents. What they saw was a border region that has been largely brought under control – not by the federal government, which has the primary responsibility for securing our borders – but by laws and policies adopted by the State of Texas to address a crisis that the Biden-Harris administration refused to stop.

Other policy experts and law enforcement officials confirmed that although there have been huge improvements along the Texas border, the problem of large numbers of illegal aliens entering the country hasn’t gone away; apprehensions in Texas are still above 1,700 per day. At the same time, the Biden- Harris administration has doubled-down on its abuse of parole authorities to allow a growing number of illegal aliens to arrive through legal ports of entry at the border, or fly directly to the U.S.

All of these newly arrived migrants – along with those already here – turn up in cities and communities in every state in the nation. FAIR’s State and Local Engagement team was able to provide attendees with a menu of legislative and law enforcement options that serve as a deterrent to illegal aliens taking up residence in their communities. These strategies, that FAIR helped design, have been implemented in many jurisdictions around the country and have survived the inevitable legal challenges from open-borders advocacy groups and can be easily adopted by other jurisdictions.

FAIR’s 2024 Border School wrapped up with a press conference at the now quiet and peaceful Anzalduas Park along the banks of the Rio Grande in McAllen that a year ago was overrun with illegal border-crossers. The press conference featured sheriffs and legislators from various parts of the country, and local residents from the Texas border region.