At the scene of border wall construction, Gov. Greg Abbott announced what he called unprecedented, historic action by naming Mike Banks, a veteran U.S. Border Patrol agent, to serve as a special advisor, or “border czar,” to the Republican governor.
“As an award-winning Border Patrol agent, with decades of federal law enforcement and border security experience,” Abbott said, “Mike is the perfect choice to oversee Texas' fight against the surge of illegal immigration, lethal drugs, and deadly weapons flowing into our state and nation.”
Ira Mehlman, speaking for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, says Abbott’s press conference did not make it clear what a border czar's duties will be.
“But certainly it's an indication,” Mehlman says, “that Gov. Abbott is trying to address a problem that has been inflicted on his state by the Biden administration's policies.”
And those policies, he adds, are not just affecting border states, but in fact are impacting state and local governments across the nation.
According to a Fox News story, Banks is expected to work alongside the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department to deter and prevent illegals from entering Texas territory.
