Texas is slated to add a plethora of new checkpoints around the state to inspect vehicles in the wake of multiple dozens of migrants who were found dead inside of a tractor-trailer that had been abandoned on the road near San Antonio.
Greg Abbott, the Republican Governor of Texas, issued an announcement that a bevy of new security measures would go into effect while giving a press conference early Wednesday. Authorities discovered a group of 46 dead inside the tractor-trailer late Monday, and since that discovery, the number has continued to climb all the way up to 51. This is slated to be labeled as the single deadliest smuggling event seen in American history.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) “will create and implement a checkpoint strategy beginning immediately where they will begin targeting trucks like the one that was used where these people perished,” claimed Abbott, as reported by The Texas Tribune.
Officials within Texas declined to give any exact locations for these newly planned checkpoints. Abbott claimed that he wanted to try and “surprise the cartels and the smugglers.” Steve McCraw, the DPS Director, stated to the press that these new stations will be set up along “smuggling corridors.”
The authorities in Texas were able to take a set of three people into custody late Monday, seemingly in connection with the abandoned tractor-trailer rig. A few of the migrants were discovered alive inside the rig and taken to local hospitals. The temperature outside of the trailer for that day ranged from the mid-90s all the way up to the low 100s, and the trailer had neither water nor air conditioning. The ages of the dead spread from early teens all the way to young adults claimed authorities.
“All were the apparent victims of human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of human life,” exclaimed Ashley C. Hoff, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, in a statement given Tuesday. “The South Texas heat is brutal this time of year, especially given the recent record-high temperatures.”
The discovery of these bodies sparked a string of accusations between the federal government and Abbott’s own administration. The governor has been a loud and frequent critic of President Joe Biden’s recent border policies, and just earlier this same year told the DPS to send groups of migrants via bus directly to Washington D.C. as a means of protest.
“These deaths are on Biden,” exclaimed Abbott via social media. “They are a result of his deadly open border policies. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”
It was VP Harris that spoke up to Abbott as a response.
“How the governor of that state responded really highlights part of the problem because his response when there are 50 dead bodies in his state is to go straight to politics,” bumbled Harris in an NPR interview. “Instead of dealing with the realities of the issue.”