Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Friday that his administration is building a Forward Operating Base in the Del Rio sector to house Texas National Guard soldiers who have been deployed to stem the illegal immigration crisis that has been unleashed under President Joe Biden.
Abbott said at a press conference that the new Texas Military Department base camp will assist in the state’s efforts to secure the border.
The governor’s office said that the Texas Military Department acquired 80 acres of land in Eagle Pass to build the base that will regularly house up to 1,800 soldiers and will have the capacity to house up to 2,300 soldiers if needed. Soldiers will have their own rooms in addition to amenities that include a dining facility, a recreation center, laundry facilities, WiFi access, chaplaincy programs, and various health services.
“In the coming weeks, we will also be expanding operations north and south of Eagle Pass, putting up additional barriers to fortify our border,” said Adjutant General of Texas Major General Thomas Suelzer. “We are also adding three more fan boats and expanding our drone program radar truck capabilities.”
Abbott said that the base was “going to dramatically improve conditions for our soldiers” because they were currently “scattered across this entire region in cramped quarters, away from fellow soldiers, and sometimes traveling long distances to do their job.”
Texas, since launching Operation Lone Star, has spent billions of dollars trying to secure its border with Mexico.
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“The multi-agency effort has led to over 500,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 39,500 criminal arrests, with more than 35,600 felony charges,” the governor’s office said. “In the fight against the fentanyl crisis, Texas law enforcement has seized over 467 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission.”