Gov. Greg Abbott discusses border situation

well thank you everybody for being here today uh we have with us director steve mccraw who is the director of the texas department of public safety we have andre sparks who i will tell you more about before she gives her remarks as well as christy lopez who works with um works with the leader of what's called traffic 9-1-1 and she'll tell you more about what she does momentarily let me begin with this across the street from where we gather today at the k bailey hutchison convention center is where the biden administration is preparing to house up to 3 000 unaccompanied minors who cross the border similar sites exist in carrizo springs texas as well as midland texas and that's just as of now the way that we see the number of unaccompanied miners crossing the border there is every reason for americans to expect the number and size of those sites to continue to increase in the coming days these sites are a direct result of president biden's reckless open border policies that are causing a surge in border crossings and cartel activity the administration has yet to provide answers that texans deserve how long will these children be here what countries have they come from and what covet variants have they been exposed to are they being tested for covet and if so how is the administration handling those who test positive is the federal government following cdc quarantine protocols what happens to these children if they do test positive for covet and if they do become ill who is it that's going to be taking care of them the body administration must also answer for enticing unaccompanied minors into inhumane conditions inhumane conditions that expose these children to traffickers to abuse and to terror so far this year more than 11 000 miners have been apprehended crossing the border into texas children crossing the border rose 60 percent from january to february to more than 9 400 in february the number of migrants crossing the border is at the highest since march 2019 and is on pace to hit a 20-year high on monday alone the border patrol took in about 280 child migrants in the rio grande valley sector america needs to know how these children some are young children how they are coming across the border and who is it that is helping these children come across the border they americans need to know whether or not these children were harmed or abused in any way they need to know if these children were assisted coerced or threatened by cartel members or by human traffickers were they forced to carry contraband as they made the trek across mexico to the american border all of this is vital information that can help america combat these human traffickers and prevent other children from being victimized americans deserve to know what the bite administration is doing to get those answers and americans deserve to know what the bible administration is doing to go after these human traffickers who are preying upon these young children body administration to get those answers should interview every unaccompanied child coming across the border they should determine if any child has been harmed in any way or victimized by human traffickers things like this are already being done very professionally and very compassionately for children in america who are victims of human trafficking the children coming across the border they may share information about human traffickers or other abusers this information can help us root out human trafficking as well as other criminal activity now doing these things is the federal government's responsibility but once again it is texas stepping up and doing what the federal government should be doing weeks ago i launched operation lone star to help secure the border and combat the smuggling of people and drugs into texas the texas department of public safety has deployed a thousand dps officers agents and rangers to support operation lone star today we are expanding the scope of operation lone star to crack down on human trafficking the department of public safety will work with the already long-standing governor's child sex trafficking team as well as with other organizations and agencies that have experience in dealing with human trafficking and child trafficking the texas department of public safety has been and will be apprehending unaccompanied minors who cross the border and when they do they will be seeking information about human traffickers as well as other crimes that may have occurred today i am directly asking the biden administration to allow the texas department of public safety to access this facility across the street at the k bailey hutchison center as well as the other federally run facilities in texas to be able to talk to these unaccompanied minors we must get to the bottom of the human trafficking and put an end to it the thought of any child suffering at the hands of human traffickers is completely unacceptable we have a duty to crack down on this heinous crime and to prevent more children from being trafficked and abused and our mission is especially important now with a massive surge in border crossings and with an administration in washington that has not laid out a clear plan about how to address this challenge about human trafficking or kennedy to be able to address the massive surge that's coming across the border so whether it's securing the border or fighting human trafficking the state of texas will always step up and fill in the gaps that are left open by washington and i want to thank the brave men and women of the texas department of public safety who are on the front lines every single day their efforts are vital to work to address this humanitarian crisis and to keep our community safe leading the charge in keeping our community safe is director steve mccraw of the texas department of public safety governor thank you certainly it's not my position to comment on policy and as you know we abort having to do so but sometimes unfortunately seemingly compassionate decisions made by federal government or federal courts for that matter have resulted in the mass migration of women and children to texas and elsewhere and when that happens it overwhelms border patrol immediately and of course the governor launched operation lone star obviously because the cartels are leveraging those gaps that have been created by overwhelming border patrol and putting them in the defense in terms of detaining and all the resources they have to commit towards taking care of these children which they must do which is so vitally important and it's important they interview each of these and find out what has happened but i can tell you that the challenge they have in interviewing these children is this is they've been threatened by the cartels when the cartel says if you talk we're going to kill your families they actually mean that and if you're in mexico or central america from there they have a great distrust of law enforcement and concern and they believe that when the cartels say that so it's a challenge to detect those things and work this but in texas as the governor pointed out we cherish children it doesn't matter where they're from and we have an obligation to pursue all crimes against children regardless of where it happened and unfortunately many of these children when they're brought across are preyed upon by individuals amongst the smugglers by the cartel operatives and others so the challenge for us has been supporting the border patrol stepping forward and doing what the state of texas expects is ensuring that even on the front line you know our troopers are trained in interdiction protection of children identifying the indicators where children have been abused when they have been sexually assaulted and and people that accompany with them that are suspicious i mean in march alone there's sex offenders that have been convicted and deported were captured with among illegal aliens coming across family units and unaccompanied children it's important that we identify those things pursue those things and ensure there's no crimes what's often not mentioned we recognize that the gaps create that methamphetamine cocaine heroin fentanyl if you've got a drug problem in the u.s it's coming through the border we recognize that and they're exploiting children for that purpose the other part what people don't realize is there's there's another these this category will call for just for this purposes we'll call a high-value migrant and unfortunately those that have been involved and there's some behind me that have been involved in sex traffic investigations what happens is young women from central america and mexico are lured to texas on the promise of a service industry job or a nanny or some other job and when they come here to the united states and there's a case that was just discussing and thank you for what you do in helping us with our investigations there's this the case that would stain your stole if you saw what would happen what people will do to mankind at their most precious the children is just amazing it's just sickening and what they would do is promise these jobs they get them here they debrief them fully to know where their families are how can they get contact because if they escape they can compel them back by threatening their families and it's happened and they'll bring them over as young as 13 years old and after they debrief them they'll gang rape and then they'll compel into prostitution i don't care if it's 15 minutes for 45 dollars some of the most brutal things you've seen done to children it happened in the u.s and right now we're concerned about i know the governor's concerned about it i know that andrew sparks are concerned about others that care about children from around the world as victims that's a we this is an opportunity for the sex industry to exploit it certainly the cartels benefit when these gaps occur when there's a mass migration happens they benefit but so does the gangs that support them on so on both sides of the border and so does the sex trafficking industry trying to you know you know feed this unending demand for trafficking and the more high value of the trafficking is the young children so it's clearly it's a high priority department i know we governor talked about it we discussed it yesterday that the department of public safety i mean he's made it clear the state legislatures made it clear is that it's everybody's job is human trafficking particularly sex trafficking and that when i say everybody it means a texas state trooper needs to be an expert in it a special agent a dps special agent needs to be an expert at it so does our intelligence analyst and so does texas rangers and we employ all of those resources to try to address this this heinous crime and of course and consistent with operation lone star governor we've stood up to state this is the north texas region and we're prepared to to do interviews to look for any clues any opportunities to to pursue anyone that would would violate any of these children or any other children and certainly engage in sex trafficking so thank you governor thank you and it's my expectation that the binding administration will allow you and your team into this convention center to visit with the children who they are putting into that convention center later on today so next i want to introduce andrea sparks and i want to tell you about her so you can understand the perspective that she speaks from andrea is the director of the governor's child sex trafficking team where she's been for about four years the team promotes policies to prevent child sexual exploitation and to bring exploiters to justice andrea's team has become a national leader in efforts to prevent child exploitation and to support the criminal justice system in holding exploiters accountable after graduating from the university of texas school of law she served as a staff attorney at the texas supreme court after that she went on to represent both children and families in child protection cases before coming to the governor's office she served as the executive director of the texas regional office for the national center for missing and exploited children andrea sparks thank you governor thank you for assembling us here today to talk about this very very critical issue we are very concerned at the child sex trafficking team about the youth and the children who are coming across the border they are in a perfect storm of vulnerability we've heard stories that kids as young as six are crossing the border alone and they are scared they are confused and they are very likely to end up in the hands of an exploiter from what we know about human trafficking and how it works our team has been at work for almost five years now governor to build the model the texas model for commercially sexually exploited youth and we have a system in place that can help any child every child who is identified as a victim of exploitation so we work every day and are committed to preventing identifying and addressing child exploitation whether that comes in the form of a pimp or a gang or a familia a family member unfortunately that happens and even international cartels and we do this on a daily basis with our partners that we provide support to and and partner with on a daily basis at the children's advocacy centers and at many other child serving agencies across the state of texas we do that so that these kids get the safety that they need and deserve and the services and supports they need to not only heal from their trafficking experience but in order to thrive as a person as a human being and so with us today is one of those service providers and i'm going to let her talk to you all in a minute we do have specially trained advocates and case managers like christie all over the state of texas in over 130 counties who can provide crisis intervention long-term case management and that trauma-informed care and supportive relationship that these kids need especially if they're being exploited and we stand ready governor and and director mccraw to work with you as always to make sure that every child in texas is protected from exploitation thank you very much and as you mentioned one of your partners is an organization the name of which is traffic 911 and from that organization we have with us here today christy lopez thank you for having us governor i am an advocate with traffic 9-1-1 and it is our pleasure to partner with the governor's office to ensure that any and all exploited children and youth in north texas have access to services are able to receive trauma-informed care and that are able to connect with the safe and healthy relationships that they need to heal and thrive so a thank you very much we'll take a few up by the trump questions there have been children exploited for years you've been the governor for eight years why to be clear every year that i have been governor we have been engaged in border surges exactly like what we're doing now from the first session that i was governor the state legislature appropriated almost a billion dollars for every biennium from the beginning until now so that we do have the resources to deploy not only the texas department of public safety but also the national guard and so for this entire time moving in different numbers but also maintaining a constant presence both the texas department of public safety and the national guard have been involved there is something different this time and far more prolifically than in the past quite often in the past there has been a large number of single adults or family units coming across the border what we're seeing now is far more prolific numbers and unaccompanied children making their way to locations like here in dallas or midland or other parts in the state of texas and as the director mccraw pointed out his team has been involved in the past in dealing with the human trafficking component about this but because of the large number of children already and because it is clear what is about to happen in the coming weeks and months and that is the number of children you see have come across the border already is going to be a tiny fraction of what we will see in the coming months we're trying to get ahead of this as much as possible and engage a team like this that said let me be very clear about this and that is texas is willing to step up and help out but this is the biden's administration responsibility in part immigration is always a federal responsibility in part it's the policies that have been adopted by the administration that have escalated the number of children coming across the border where the body administration has made it clear that if you are an unaccompanied child you will be allowed to come into the united states that means that we need to engage more now than ever before with regard to the human trafficking component that said again to be clear my expectation is today the bond administration will step up and do its job to address the human trafficking component about this if they fail to do so for one they should answer to americans why they are failing these children in this human trafficking enterprise but also if they fail to do so we will use every tool that we have available to us to fully address this in challenge we're already helped by the former administration that is the republican administration of our president trump it's not like these children are new comers who found themselves in they are children who have been held in inhumane circumstances and abiding administration is trying to make sure that the image of america doesn't uh is not followed doesn't become this bad image or see what they are doing to communicate so giving their power to fema and hhs is basically an institution of the american federal government and i'm going to take care of them but there will still be within the uh the confines of american government you're a part of that government are you politicizing this issue or why do you think that the inhumane letters should be used these children should suffer if they are victims of child trafficking if that is what is being done to help them why are you against what is right why are you making america before the international community several things in response as i've made clear texas as a state coming out of our own state budget have been very aggressive in dealing with the challenges coming across the border during the entirety of my governorship and then preceding my governorship texans should not have to be coming out of texas taxpayer pocket books to do the federal government's job during the course of our response director mcgraw and his staff with the texas department of public safety and others have been engaged in this process of trying to root out the human trafficking element but let's clarify something that you said that i disagree with the blind administration opened the flood gates to any child who wants to come across a border is going to be able to come across the border and i know from what's going on on the ground they are completely ill prepared for this one easy example and that is when the amount of children coming across the border turned out to be far more than what they expected they had no clue where to send those children on what was it saturday night this past saturday night there was an email sent from federal health and human services to my staff at 9 30 pm that i did not get until about 10 pm on saturday night where federal health and human services they were scrambling to try to find some location where to send those children and they eventually wound up deciding over the night those children will be going to midland texas without knowing whether or not there's running water or workable sewage or what the conditions may be there's they were scrambling talking to other locations around the state of texas trying to find a location for the children who are coming to dallas texas the biden administration is completely not prepared for the number of children coming across this border and the worst thing about it however and this is maybe the most important thing i could tell america right now what the obama administration is doing by allowing any child who wants to come across the border to come here it means that he is going to subject thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children to the horrific trauma maybe assault and human trafficking that these children have to go through as they make that trek through the border i urge president biden do not traumatize these children by enticing them to make this trek president you have the ability to put an end to this and ensure the safety of these children by not enticing them into that very dangerous trek that you made today the first point that you made today was about the potential spread of the coronavirus and that these unaccompanied children may add to that spread there are people out there governor respectfully that will say you dropped the mass mandate last week you lifted all coronavirus restrictions to those who say you aren't the right person right now to be speaking about potential additional spread of the coronavirus what would you say when we make decisions about opening up which by the way when i made my announcement texas was already open up 75 percent so we went from 75 percent to 100 percent and that decision was based upon several different data points it was based upon the reduction in the positivity rate which the last i saw was yesterday it dropped down to six percent for two days in a row uh it was based on the dramatic reduction in hospitalizations which is the lowest in six months the positivity rate is the lowest in almost 10 months and the vaccines have just continued to increase very importantly we look at those who are most in danger of either losing their life or being hospitalized because of exposure exposure to copic and those are people who are age 65 and older and well over 55 percent of the people who fall into that most vulnerable population for covet have received a vaccine shot my point is this decisions were based upon metrics as they existed at that time those metrics are changing not by the positivity rate of the people who are coming across the border but by the number of people coming across the border who have coveted and who may be bringing variants in the key point that i wanted to make about covid was really the variant know this people coming across the border that for one they're coming through mexico which is considered to be one of the hottest hot spots for covet in the world but how many of these kids are coming from brazil how many are coming from central america that may have exposure to the variant in brazil we know others are coming from other continents across the entire globe there are all these other variants my point is this the byte administration has a responsibility to work collaboratively with state health services so that the state will be able to respond the bite administration has done nothing to work with state health services to inform state health services who are these kids where they coming from what exposure they may have we as a state are incapable of responding to this potential cova challenge because of the biden's administration's refusal to provide us the information we need to be able to respond to contain covert i'll be happy to the divided administration offered the state funding to give to fema to do testing the f in fema stands for the federal government has the capability of giving money and uh kova test to fema without even having to talk to the governor about it they did not need my permission to get that done as was proven by the fact that they have done it since my refusal to participate in it all they wanted to do that was a political game by the blind administration where they wanted to try to have texas assist them in their illegal immigration program which we refuse to do the federal government has the money they have the federal agencies whether it be fema or federal health and human services or ice where these cess can be run to be clear about this if the administration is doing it correctly i'm going to explain the process first when a person comes across the border they first encounter typically a border patrol officer that border patrol officer after the detention they have to turn them over to ice and it should be ice when they first go into a holding situation it should be ice that performs the test that performs the quara team that performs the medical assessment and if that is the responsibility of the federal government not the state government [Music] and we'll get you back here than you got a court order sure you may be talking about the flora's decision or something like that so here's the deal whatever court order it was there are issues with regard to allowing children in but that does not answer the biden administration's failure to fully address the children who are coming in for one they do have a responsibility in the time of a worldwide pandemic to make the covet assessment but more importantly what we're really here to talk about is not that what we're really here to talk about is we do have the strategies and the capabilities of addressing the human trafficking component that these children are going through and we are demanding that the body administration step up and address the human trafficking component of all these children coming here yes yes governor can you please explain the taxes where are you specifically as it relates to overcharges do you agree with the state senate bill the lieutenant governor as far as reversing it or do you agree with the house speaker who opposes it and secondly can you explain why you asked for the guc chair's resignation and so on on the first question i've already made multiple comments about that and i'll just leave those comments you can pull them up with regard to the second question listen uh we want to make sure that we are going to show the vision to our fellow texans that we are charting a new and fresh course for the the public utilities commission and the action that i made is one of many steps that will be taken to achieve those goals thank you all very much

Channel: KPRC 2 Click2Houston

Views: 3,205,878

Keywords:

Id: _NgiK7uf7D8

Length: 31min 41sec (1901 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021