Texas Placing Shipping Containers Along El Paso Sector Of Southern Border

On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) announced that shipping containers were being placed along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, in an effort to strengthen border security amid a record breaking illegal immigration crisis.

“Texas is adding shipping containers to the US-Mexico border in El Paso,” Abbott wrote on Twitter. “This is in addition to the razor wire and National Guard.”

“Together, the strategies are causing illegal immigration at that location to plummet,” he added.

Texas is adding shipping containers to the US-Mexico border in El Paso.

This is in addition to the razor wire and National Guard.

Together, the strategies are causing illegal immigration at that location to plummet.https://t.co/YPTJlkca5m

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 29, 2022

The illegal immigration crisis at the southern border began shortly after Democrat President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 as he quickly worked to dismantle many border security policies put in place by the Trump administration. Illegal immigration subsequently surged to record high levels as border officials encountered 1,734,686 migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border in fiscal year 2021. That record was broken the following year with border officials encountering 2,378,944 migrants in fiscal year 2022. 

Fiscal year 2023 is on track to break the record set in fiscal year 2022, with both October and November setting all time records for migrant encounters in their respective months. 

In the El Paso sector specifically, the rate of migrant encounters in fiscal year 2023 is nearly four times higher than in fiscal year 2022.