Addressing the Border Crisis

This week the Texas House passed critical border security legislation that will help Texas defend the 1,254 miles of our southern border. We must protect our communities by increasing funding, cracking down on human and drug smuggling and giving our law enforcement the tools they need. And these bills will help us do just that.

House Bill 7 helps tackle the border crisis by:

• Addressing funding challenges in Texas border region communities
• Providing new border region specialty courts with the necessary resources to resolve border-related offenses
• Creating a mechanism to compensate property owners for damages caused by crossings
• Establishing the Border Protection Unit, a mission-oriented, locally-based response to the state’s ongoing border security operations

Likewise, House Bill 800 specifically addresses the plague of human smuggling. This bill increases the mandatory minimum sentence for convictions to 10 years while also requiring those that run a stash house to serve a minimum of 5 years.