Federico Garza, chief of police in Eagle Pass, Texas, told Newsmax on Friday that Washington, D.C., needs to hurry up and deliver real solutions for the border crisis, which is taking a toll on his officers.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a directive to the state of Texas in which it demanded access to the U.S.-Mexico border on land seized by the Lone Star State in Eagle Pass.
DHS ordered Texas to halt its attempts to deny Border Patrol access in and around Shelby Park and set a Jan. 17 deadline for the state to remove all barriers.
Texas authorities began arresting migrants at Shelby Park late Wednesday evening and charging them with criminal trespassing, according to CNN.
"If we look at a lot of citizens, clearly, with all respect, they don't like the idea of Shelby Park being taken over by the [Texas] Department of Public Safety," Garza said during an appearance on "National Report." "Surely we understand that, and I really respect that. But, at the same time, I'm looking at it from the law enforcement perspective, where our job is actually to protect the community, so that actually helped me in not actually assigning resources to those areas when it comes to illegal immigration."
"I'm not going to get into the legalities of what is going on there, but I can surely tell you that it does help me and has helped our resources for our officers," he said. "Our officers are overwhelmed with all the work when it comes to all the terroristic threats that we get, bomb threats, public official threats, including us responding to the community needs. Our officers are overwhelmed, and this really helped."
Garza said that he understands Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott's reasoning, "where Border Patrol should go back to protecting the border," but he also said that those traveling to the United States' border with Mexico should "do it right and cross the border legally."
"Eagle Pass has been ground zero for quite a while, really and truly," he said. "For the sake of the country, something needs to be done. … We see a lot of talk. We see a lot of things. We see a lot of people coming through Eagle Pass. I'd like to see a solution, I really would."
"We're in the trenches of this whole thing, and … my officers, are completely overwhelmed and really tired of seeing all this," he continued. "Most of us, we have fighting hearts and no matter what comes down our way, we're going to improvise to protect the citizens, to protect this country — that will not fail. But, at the same time, the help and the solutions and the answers are in Washington."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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