Texas Border Business
LAREDO, Texas (Oct. 29, 2018) – Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz, chairman of the Texas Border Coalition (TBC), issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration’s decision to deploy 5,200 active duty military along the U.S.-Mexico border:
“The United States wouldn’t have to deploy 5,200 active duty military personnel to the Southern border If Congress and previous GOP and Democratic administrations had acted on the Texas Border Coalition’s proposals to overhaul the U.S. land ports to help secure the border while maintaining legitimate trade and travel.
“TBC agrees with President Trump’s assessment that Washington’s inaction of not addressing solutions to our antiquated border security immigration laws makes our country less secure. But we strongly disagree with his premise that the military will resolve the illegal crossings at the Southern border because refugees will continue to come and turn themselves in until Congress does their job in fixing our broken immigration policies.
“The Southwest border needs greater investments in personnel, technology and infrastructure at the ports of entry – not false efforts that militarize the border, which harm morale and damage the economy of our region.
“We appreciate the leadership of our border delegation, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Reps. Will Hurd, Beto O’Rourke, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela, who have worked tirelessly toward these goals. TBC will continue to work with Congress and the Trump Administration to achieve immigration and border security outcomes worthy of a great nation.”
About the Texas Border Coalition
The Texas Border Coalition (TBC) is a collective voice of border mayors, county judges, economic development commissions focused on issues that affect 2.5 million people along the Texas-Mexico border region and economically disadvantaged counties from El Paso to Brownsville. TBC is working closely with the state and federal government to educate, advocate, and secure funding for transportation, immigration and border security, workforce development, economic development and health care.
