During a discussion on border security measures, Democrats said that Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star is missing the mark.
Sheriff Brad Coe said the residents of his sparsely populated county are unsafe and schools are being protected by “military barricades.”
Abbott was overwhelmingly reelected as governor of Texas in November. He was sworn in for his third term on Tuesday.
Rep. Chip Roy filed a bill to require the Department of Homeland Security to detain asylum seekers or send them to a contiguous country.
Gonzales did not sign his name to a different border security bill previously introduced by congressional Republicans from Texas.
The president’s visit to El Paso was his first trip to the southern border since his inauguration nearly two years ago.
Since the last time Texas lawmakers met, federal officials have reported a record-setting fiscal year of encounters with illegal aliens.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed numerous lawsuits against the Biden administration over border security since the president took office.
Republicans have criticized Biden for declining to visit the border amid historic levels of illegal immigration.
Prosecutors say 12 other illegal immigrants tried to flee after a car chase ended in a crash that killed eight people and injured two more.
Though he approached the strategy cautiously, Gov. Greg Abbott has embraced the idea that illegal immigration is an “invasion.”
Customs and Border Protection reported a 53 percent increase in seizures of fentanyl along the southern border in November.
