To address the growing humanitarian crisis along the Texas-Mexico border, Texas officials are dispatching more state law enforcement officials to the southern border as immigrant children are forced to stay in cramped, squalid conditions, the USA Today reports.
Gov. Rick Perry said the plan is to deploy more Department of Public Safety agents to assist overwhelmed federal Border Patrol agents.
“Texas can’t afford to wait for Washington to act on this crisis and we will not sit idly by while the safety and security of our citizens are threatened,” the
Republican governor said in a statement. “Until the federal government recognizes the danger it’s putting our citizens in by its inaction to secure the border, Texas law enforcement must do everything they can to keep our citizens and communities safe.”
Since October, border patrol officials have apprehended more than 47,000 children – nearly twice the number captured this time last year.
