Texas Takes On Biden: Border Battle Update, Key Takeaways from the ‘Take Our Border Back’ Convoy; How Texas is Challenging the Biden Administration on Border Policy

Texas takes on Biden: Border battle update, key takeaways from the ‘Take Our Border Back’ convoy:

Earlier this year, “Take Our Border Back,” a coalition of freedom-loving Americans, formed a multi-state convoy that toured through the country, holding rallies along the journey to bring attention to the Biden administration’s “wide open” border policies.

The group was relentlessly smeared by corporate media outlets who accused the concerned citizens of being “far right extremists,” even claiming some participants may have ties to “militias.” News outlets blasted the coalition for referring to themselves as “the army of God,” warning others to stay away from the allegedly dangerous, so-called “Christian nationalists.”

Despite the media’s sensationalism and the group’s concerns that agitators might infiltrate the convoy, the events were peaceful — exactly as its organizers had intended. After initially dominating the headlines, the convoy seemed to fade from the spotlight once it became too difficult for the media to spin the prayerful gatherings as anything menacing.

“The goal is simple: to shed light on the obvious dangers posed by wide open Southern borders,” read a January press release from the convoy. “Uniting ‘We the People’ in our resolute stand to send a PEACEFUL, LAWFUL, and clear message to all city, state, and federal politicians & immigration enforcement officials who are enabling tens of thousands of illegal entrants, criminals and known terrorists from over 160 countries world-wide to cross daily into our country along our southern border.”

The convoy started its travels at the end of January in Virginia Beach and wrapped up the tour with three separate rallies on February 3 in Yuma, Arizona, San Diego, California, and Quemadeo, Texas.

Noél Roberts, an organizer for the “Take Our Border Back” event in Yuma, told Blaze News on Thursday that the convoy “went great.”

“It went really beyond our expectations, I think, in Texas, California, and Arizona,” she said. “We had anticipated potential issues; none of them came to light in any way, shape, or form.”

Roberts explained that the convoy’s organizers received warnings about potential bad actors seeking to sabotage the events. Safety was a top concern for many Americans who wrote to the group expressing interest in joining up with the convoy on its tour through the southern states.

The Yuma rally pulled in attendees from 30 states and Canada, Roberts noted.

“It definitely brought massive awareness to many who didn’t really know what was going on,” she told Blaze News. “There are so many millions of people still in America that just do not know what’s happening even though it has migrated up into the northern states.”

The Glenn Beck Program’s head writer and chief researcher, Jason Buttrill, joined the “Take Our Border Back” convoy to investigate the Biden administration’s border crisis in the newly released Blaze Originals documentary, “Texas vs. The Feds: How the Elites Use the Border Crisis Against Us.” —>READ MORE HERE

How Texas is challenging the Biden administration on border policy:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is clashing with the Biden administration on border policies on a number of fronts, helping to catapult the topic of illegal immigration and record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border to the top of voters’ minds ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Several of Abbott’s initiatives have triggered court battles, since border policy historically and according to the U.S. Constitution has been overwhelmingly the purview of the federal government.

Here is a look at the key Texas initiatives and where the legal challenges stand:

Operation Lone Star

Operation Lone Star is Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border security initiative. It has been hailed by conservatives, who praise the Texas governor for taking an aggressive approach to security, and criticized by human rights advocates.

The initiative was launched in March 2021, when Abbott declared an emergency disaster over illegal migration and cartel drug trafficking. That gave him the authority to deploy thousands of National Guard soldiers and state troopers to the border.

But the program has expanded far beyond establishing a Texas law enforcement presence on the Rio Grande. State and local law enforcement officers have been empowered to jail migrants on trespassing charges. Funds have been used to build a section of border wall. The Texas legislature has supported the operation by increasing penalties for smuggling and authorizing local police to take on immigration enforcement.

Civil rights groups asked the Justice Department to investigate OLS after thousands of migrants were locked up in special prison units and some were detained for months without being charged with a crime. Abbott frequently claims the operation is successful, pointing to migrant arrests and seized illicit narcotics.

S.B. 4 (arresting and deporting migrants)

Texas last year passed Senate Bill 4, which takes the extraordinary step of making it a state crime for migrants to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas without legal documentation and authorizing Texas to deport undocumented individuals. Republicans say the law is needed because the Biden administration has been unable to stop a historic influx of migrants into this country. —>READ MORE HERE

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