TEXAS, USA — Governor Brad Little joined more than a dozen other governors in Eagle Pass at the Texas-Mexico border on Sunday Feb. 4.
Together, they held a news conference to discuss ongoing issues at the border, and call on the Biden Administration to secure the southern border.
"The president is obligated by laws passed by Congress to actually secure the border and deny illegal entry," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said during the news conference. "Texas has shown that we can reduce it to three people crossing across the border. Joe Biden, it is your turn now. Your obligation, your duty to follow the law Congress passed and secure the border just as Texas has."
Standing right behind Gov. Abbott was Gov. Little - who has made trips to the southern border before.
Little echoed support for the right of Texas to defend its border.
"The real problem is at the federal level, Texas would love for us not to be doing this. We're trying to make a statement the federal government has got to act," Little said. "The only reduction we've had has been by all the good work of Texas, both the National Guard and their DPS, to restrict the flow."
Before the news conference, the 15 governors were briefed on what Texas calls "Operation Lone Star." That briefing stated 169 people on the terrorist watch list were arrested at the border in 2023, and 458 million lethal doses of fentanyl were seized at the border.
Government data shows that over two million people were apprehended at the border in 2023.
Little said that flow of dangerous drugs has made its way into Idaho, an operation he said is largely orchestrated by cartels.
"The amount of control that the cartels have over the border is just amazing, and this piece of real estate is where, with enough effort, you can stop the problem," Little said.
The meeting of Republican governors comes just over a week after Governor Little announced he would be sending two teams of Idaho State Police Troopers to the southern border, who will work alongside the Texas Department of Public Safety.
This will be the third time that state police have been deployed to the border since 2021.
"We are also a force multiplier to help the Texas Department of Public Safety to identify, interdict," Governor Little said. "Then they go home to Idaho and train the rest of the state police, plus my sheriffs, plus my local police in unfortunately, what the state-of-the-art is in the smuggling of fentanyl - particularly the pills."
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