A new video shows the Texas National Guard installing razor wire fencing on its border with New Mexico just days after Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) said the state would be “tripling” its razor wire barriers to prevent illegal immigrants from continuing to pour into the United States.
In a recent statement on X, formerly Twitter, Abbot said, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have allowed more illegal immigrants to cross our southern border than ever before. Texas is fighting back. We are TRIPLING our razor wire border barriers to deny illegal entry into our state and our country.”
KTSM reported that three days after the Texas governor’s statement on social media, the outlet recorded a video of Texas National Guard troops installing concertina wire and fencing along the riverbank in the El Paso, Texas, region. The video was later shared on X by End Wokeness, alongside the caption, “Texas National Guard just installed razor walls on its border with NEW MEXICO.”
Asked about the state’s decision to install additional razor wire fencing, Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, told The Independent, “Texas has been so successful in securing our southern border, migrants are now illegally crossing into New Mexico, and then into Texas.”
Mahaleris explained that Texas has allocated over $11 billion under Operation Lone Star to enhance border security. The press secretary noted that Texas built its own border wall, installed strategic barriers, deployed thousands of Texas National Guard troops and Department of Public Safety troopers to the border, and transported illegal immigrants to “self-declared sanctuary cities.” Mahaleris added, “Texas will continue utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to the border crisis and protect Texans.”
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In response to the installation of razor wire between Texas and New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) released a statement, saying, “Gov. Abbott seems to be pushing to make Texas its own country without regard for his neighbors or the fact that Texas is already part of a great nation—the United States.”
“If he doesn’t think that New Mexico is important to the overall well-being of Texas, then he must be forgetting about the Permian Basin and the oil industry that straddles our two states,” Grisham added. “I don’t see him laying concertina wire there.”
KTSM reported that Texas’ concertina barrier facing New Mexico currently stretches from West Paisano Drive to the Texas side of the Anapra bridge between Sunland Park and El Paso. The outlet also noted that the installation of the border fencing comes as the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station in southern New Mexico remains a popular area for illegal immigrant smuggling activities.
