Far West Texas News

Texas gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines promises further border control after a U.S. Border Patrol agent was allegedly assaulted earlier this month by a person attempting to enter the country illegally.

On Jan. 5, Border Patrol agents at the Van Horn Station encountered a group of migrants attempting to enter the country illegally. When an agent attempted to detain one of the migrants, the agent was attacked with border officials later discovering a large kitchen knife that was concealed inside the migrant's sleeve, according to Breitbart.

"Texas must stop relying on the empty promises of career politicians if we want to save our state; the Texas border must be secured," Huffines told Far West Texas News. "When I am governor, I will close all traffic into Texas from Mexico, deport illegal aliens and finish President (Donald) Trump’s border wall."

Numbers collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2021 found that more migrants were apprehended at the Southwest U.S border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California than in any year prior. In total, 1,658,206 migrants were apprehended trying to enter the country illegally, eclipsing the previous record of 1,643,679 in 2000. 

While border control has been a hotly debated topic in recent years, 13 Democratic members of Texas’ congressional delegation called for an Inspector General investigation into Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) “Operation Lone Star” earlier this month in response to news reports that claimed “poor working and living conditions for troops, habitual pay problems and suspected suicides tied to the operation." Their letter asserted that Operation Lone Star was “severely eroding the readiness of our National Guardsmen and their ability to be deployed on federal orders,” according to Austin-American Statesman. 

Abbott refuted the claims and stated that the criticism was his opponents “just playing politics,” according to KWTX10.

Elected in 2014, Abbott currently serves as the 48th governor of Texas. Before being elected governor, Abbott was the longest-serving attorney general of Texas.

Huffines will face Abbott in the gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, March 1. From 2015 to 2019, he represented Texas' 16th State Senate District and is also the CEO of Huffines Communities, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based real estate development firm.