EAGLE PASS, Texas – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott headed to the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since the presidential election.
On Tuesday, Abbott delivered remarks to Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers stationed at Eagle Pass over Thanksgiving. The operating base in Eagle Pass opened in May.
The governor was joined by DPS Director Steven McCraw, Texas Military Department General Thomas Suelzer, National Border Patrol Council Paul Perez, and Tom Homan, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for border czar.
During their remarks on Tuesday, Abbott thanked the soldiers and troopers and talked about new border security measures when Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Homan doubled down on plans for a mass deportation program under the incoming Trump administration.
Homan is a former Border Patrol agent who served as the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first term as president.
He was “significantly involved” in the separation of children from their parents after they illegally crossed the border, said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which successfully sued to halt the practice. Parents were criminally prosecuted.
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Homan previously signaled support for the federal government using a ranch in Starr County for mass deportations.
GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a letter that her office is “fully prepared” to enter an agreement with any federal agencies involved in deporting individuals from the country “to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history.”
During a press conference on Tuesday, Buckingham said a border wall is actively being constructed at the site.
Trump has promised to stage the largest deportation operation in American history. There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally.
Jessie Fuentes, a lifelong resident of Eagle Pass and member of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition, worries about the plan’s impact.
“I’ve seen this before, where we had a certain individual in Germany,” he said.
Fuentes worries about how the people who cross the border will be treated.
“I’m very afraid,” said Fuentes. “I’m very scared.”
Questions remain about how mass raids would be executed and where people would be detained.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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