Texas is building a new military base for National Guard members deployed to the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas — where state and federal authorities have been in a tense conflict over dealing with immigration — Gov. Greg Abbott said.
At a news conference on Friday, Abbott announced the construction of what he said would a new “base camp” that could house up to 2,300 soldiers.
“As opposed to being scattered around many different places across this region, they will be operating out of one place. It will amass a large army in a very strategic area. It will increase the speed and flexibility of the Texas National Guard to be able to respond to crossings,” Abbott said.
Officials expect that by mid-April they’ll have a 300-bed capacity and will add another 300 each month until completion, Texas Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, Abbott’s top military adviser, said at the Friday press conference. The camp will include several features like large dining halls, individual rooms for soldiers and medical care facilities.
The move may also deepen the tension between the state and federal governments as Abbott continues to implement his own strategies to deter migrants from crossing in between ports of entry at the southern border.
Members of Texas National Guard sit inside the fence at Shelby Park on February 3, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
It has been the epicenter of state and federal government showdown as Abbott continues to restrict Border Patrol’s access to the area, preventing them from apprehending migrants crossing in one of the region’s major hotspots.
The Biden administration has sued the state of Texas over a law that would give new authority to local police to crack down on those suspected of entering the country illegally.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in the state-federal dispute and issued an order allowing federal authorities to cut down the razor wire installed by Texas in areas where it was otherwise difficult to help migrants in distress.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been critical of the Texas governor, calling Abbott’s unilateral actions on the border “unconscionable.”
Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, during a news conference at Shelby Park along the Rio Grande River i…Show more
Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“It is unconscionable for a public official, to deliberately refuse to communicate, coordinate, collaborate with other public officials in the service of our nation’s interests, and to refuse to do so with the hope of creating disorder for others,” Mayorkas said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
At the Friday press conference, Texas Maj. Gen. Suelzer said that in the coming weeks the Texas National Guard will be expanding operations and installing new barriers north and south of Eagle Pass, an indication that the state continues to build barriers despite the Supreme Court ruling last month that Border Patrol agents are allowed to remove or destroy razor wire fencing to apprehend migrants attempting to enter the United States. Suelzer did not specify if the expansion of those efforts means they will also restrict access to federal agents in those areas.
Without providing any evidence, Abbott claimed his efforts at Shelby Park and in other parts of the border are responsible for the number of crossings in the area dropping in recent weeks and increasing in Arizona and other parts of the border. The state’s operations at Shelby Park cover roughly 1% of the entire southern border. But the governor did acknowledge that the number of migrant encounters in the region might once again climb in the coming months.
“As we all know, come springtime, there’s going to be additional caravans that are making their way through the southern and central part of Mexico deciding where they are going to be going,” Abbott said. “We want to make sure that when they come to the crossroad about, ‘Are they going to go to Texas? Are they going to go elsewhere?’ They will know the wrong place to go is the state of Texas.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) floats building a wall between Texas and Oklahoma because of the "radical woke left agenda … crisscrossing the United States." pic.twitter.com/i9vbjiZ55B
First thought from the headline: The American Nazi Party is already testing the waters with interstate travel restrictions for women and LGBT+ people, going so far as to legislate the presumption of guilt on the part of those making travel arrangements… The Federalist Society Inquisition has so far been somewhere between ignoring it and nodding their approval. So it only makes sense they’d try and enforce a ban on interstate travel with physical barriers and goon squads.
However, per the text of the article: Putting all his private army thugs in one place right next to where he wants to start a fight with the federal government… I can only say fucking go for it! The US air force will no doubt program the coordinates into their missiles in order to knock it all off the moment shots are fired.
A 16-year-old non-binary student in Oklahoma named Nex Benedict died following a physical altercation they had in a school bathroom with three students that bullied them since 2023. Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik is now being accused of sharing indirect responsibility for the hate crime for the fact that she helped cultivate a toxic climate of anti-LGBTQ+ hate at the school by targeting one of the school’s pro-LGBTQ+ teachers that lead to a “scandal” that rocked the small town. We’ll break down the details in this video.
Please watch this video. It is so important to understand just what Israel is doing to hospitals, medical providers, and how they just don’t see any Palestinian or their supporters as humans, as people. To the Israelis, they are all something to be wiped out, to be terrorized to nonexistence. Hugs. Scottie
Emma speaks with Dr. Tarek Loubani, associate professor at the University of Western Ontario and leader of the Glia Project, to discuss what is happening on the ground now that hospitals in Gaza are mostly non-operational.
One thing that Jon did not point out. While Tucker was going on how low the prices are in Russia, the price for the small amount of groceries he got which he claimed was a weeks worth … really small eaters there, was over half the monthly income of the average Russian. So Tucker blew half the money the average Russian earns on one week’s food alone. I think as hard as things are in the US, we still have it better. By the way, Stewart’s comedic timing and ability is still spot on, I think. Hugs. Scottie
In response to online backlash over his criticism of Joe Biden last week, Jon studies Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin in Russia for a lesson in speaking “of course” to power. Plus, Michael Kosta reports from North Korea to demonstrate how nice life under a dictatorship can be.
Scottie's Playtime 