WESLACO, Texas — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is visiting the country’s Southwest border in Texas where he and attorneys general from 12 other states were hosted by the governor of Texas for a briefing regarding issues at the border.
On January 27 and 28, the attorneys general have been touring the border wall, the south Texas region and receive a boat tour of the Rio Grande. They also met with officials in the border cities of McAllen, Edinburg, Weslaco and Rio Grande City.
During a Friday news conference, Morrisey blasted the Biden administration for abdicating its responsibility on border security.
“Words really can’t adequately describe what all of us experienced the last couple of days and the horrific catastrophe we’re seeing down here at the border," Morrisey said. "Not only undocumented aliens streaming across the border, human trafficking, but fentanyl.
“These drugs are flowing into the heartland from across the southern border. Bodies are starting to pile up as a result of the utter failure of this administration. And it’s time they do something about it.
"In West Virginia, we experience the illegal immigration problem most acutely through the explosion of fentanyl into our state. We’re seeing it all the time. Deaths are rising, doubling in many of our counties.”
Morrisey also called for the firing of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for having “failed miserably at the highest level of government” in his duty to control the flow of drugs across the nation’s southern border.
On Thursday, Morrisey said he was eager to learn more.
“I am excited to be here at the border to witness firsthand the situation on the ground that law enforcement faces every day as they try to stop both illegal immigrants and the fentanyl that are flowing across our borders,” Morrisey said in a prepared statement. “The fentanyl that is flooding into West Virginia starts here at the border, and it’s how our state’s residents experience the illegal immigration problem. I’m grateful to Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton for the opportunity to be here to see this. It is a real eye opener.”
Morrisey has led a push to stop fentanyl from coming into the country, including filing a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over the termination of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which required certain asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border to return to Mexico while awaiting their asylum hearing in U.S. immigration court.
Morrisey's office says most fentanyl available today in the United States has been trafficked from Mexico across the U.S. southwest border. Seizures of fentanyl at the border increased from approximately 1,187 kilograms in 2019 to approximately 2,939 kilograms in 2020.
Thursday in Weslaco, Abbott delivered remarks at a border security briefing attended by eleven state attorneys general from across the nation. Paxton and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw also delivered remarks. Abbott emphasized the importance Texas' collaboration with other state attorneys general to secure the border and to keep our communities safe, noting that border security is a national issue that affects all Americans.
Abbott also proposed an action item to attorneys general to crack down on social media outlets that facilitate human trafficking.
"Texas is responding in full force to the Biden administration's failure to address the disaster at our border, and our efforts are made stronger by the collaboration with other state leaders from across the country," Abbott said. "Like Texas, the attorneys general here today are working night and day to provide the safety and security Americans demand and deserve, and I thank them for their support and continued efforts to secure our border and to keep communities across America safe."
