AUSTIN, TX – According to reports, a corrections facility in South Texas is being emptied out and its inmates transferred to other facilities so that state officials can jail arrested illegal immigrants who have been caught crossing into the United States amid the ongoing crisis at the Mexican border.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has confirmed that they have begun the process of moving prisoners from the Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley to other state prisons to be able to accommodate an influx of migrants, with authorities noting that Governor Greg Abbott is stepping up the state’s response to the border crisis.
“The state of Texas continues to deal with a significant number of individuals illegally crossing the border,” the TDCJ said in a statement. “To address the ongoing crisis, Governor Abbott is directing state resources to arrest and confine those individuals crossing the border unlawfully and who have committed a state or federal crime.”
The Dolph Briscoe Unit is situated approximately a one hour drive from the southern border and has a capacity of 1,000 inmates.
In addition to clearing out prison space to house arrested migrants, this week Governor Abbott announced multiple new initiatives to combat the border crisis, which in May saw 180,034 persons illegally attempting entry to the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Among Abbott’s announced measures was right out of former President Donald Trump’s playbook: approving a budget of $250 million to construct a border wall specifically for Texas in order to keep what he referred to as the “carnage” brought by the recent surge in illegal immigration.
“Make no mistake, the border crisis that we’re dealing with right now is a direct result of the open border policies that have been put in place by the Biden administration,” he said.
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