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A Texas judge who supports state lawmakers' intentions to enforce their own illegal immigration protocols, warned on Monday about the lack of funding and infrastructure presently available in her small community.
Texas' southern border crossings from migrants increased from 1.05 million in fiscal year 2021 to 1.33 million and 1.31 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to federal data. Between October and January of the current fiscal year, there were about 472,800 illegal encounters, though numbers dropped between January to February by 81,987.
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and dozens of statewide conservatives continue to push toward a legal decision in their favor on Senate Bill 4 (S.B. 4), which would allow Texas officials to make their own arrests, detainments and deportations sans the federal government. Last Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Texas' request to allow S.B. 4 to go into effect as the matter continues to be litigated all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abbott, who last week met with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, and urged his conference to pass some type of southern border-related legislation, has extolled efforts to combat illegal immigration since Operation Lone Star began in March 2021—leading to the placing of razor wire and Texas National Guard soldiers along the state's border with Mexico.
"We're financially strapped," Terrell County Judge Dale Carruthers, a strong supporter of S.B. 4, told Scripps News on Monday. "Anything else that would be an unfunded mandate could cripple this county."
While acknowledging that Operation Lone Star has provided her county with additional law enforcement, in the form of two sheriff deputies, Terrell County's $1.8 million budget is already stretched thin and must cover everything from schools to roads to law enforcement.
Newsweek reached out to Carruthers and Abbott's office via phone and email for comment.
The county has a population of 760 residents, according to the 2020 census, making it the seventh-least populous county in all of Texas and the 37th-least populous in the country.
"I support S.B. 4 and believe as we have seen an ever-increasing effort to secure our borders, we will need to focus on a whole of government approach through state, local and federal resources," Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland told Newsweek on Monday.
Cleveland, who spent six months as a U.S. Border Patrol liaison to the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2008, said Texas has been involved in border security a lot longer than Operation Lone Star. He referred to Operation Border Star under former Governor Rick Perry.
"We will, however, have a few things we need to figure out before we begin apprehending and charging illegals under S.B. 4," Cleveland said. "Funding and resources are the two biggest constraints for my office. The two closest ports of entry are Del Rio and Presidio, which are 120 and 170 miles away. Transporting people to either location will take a deputy out of my county for almost an entire shift."
Cleveland previously told Newsweek that migrant deaths have dramatically increased. After finding, on average, one deceased migrant within county limits, 37 bodies have been found in the past three years as the number of illegal migrants has increased across the United States under the Biden administration.
The county relies on the natural environment to deter migrants, including canyons, hills, washes, mountains and 2,000-foot cliffs that serve as a man-made constructed fence.
Even when county officials detain migrants, the jail space is only big enough to hold seven individuals and there is no separation between males and females. The county's five law enforcement personnel, Cleveland told Scripps News, take matters into their own hands and patrol about 2,300 square miles of border, which includes semi-routine interdictions with migrant and smuggler vehicles on local roadways.
New data released earlier this month by the U.S. Census Bureau shows a population increase between 2022 and 2023 in nearly all Texas border counties, though Terrell County was one of two counties—joined by Zapata—decreasing. However, Terrell County only decreased by one resident while Zapata decreased by 102 residents.
Update 04/01/24, 9:44 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Thaddeus Cleveland.
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About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek investigative reporter based in Michigan. His focus includes U.S. and international politics and policies, immigration, ... Read more