Mike Banks | Image by Mike Banks/X; United States flag with unlocked chain | Image by J.J. Gouin/Shutterstock
(Texas Scorecard) — Texas’ Border Czar Mike Banks recently joined the Salcedo Storm Podcast, refuting Democrat talking points about the current state of the border.
Since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office, there have been more than 8 million encounters at the southern border, with over 11 million illegal aliens entering the United States through the southern border. As communities have been overridden with crime and homelessness, illegal aliens have been receiving handouts from the government. In 2023 alone, over $150.7 billion of American taxpayer dollars were used for illegal aliens.
When asked what Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Tim Walz, would do about the border, Banks stated, “I think they’ll do absolutely nothing to secure the border. As a matter of fact, I think if it’s even possible, they’ll make the border even more wide open…At least 99 individuals from the terrorist watch list were released into the US.”
When asked about Texas’ position on known terrorists being caught by the Biden regime and then released into our country, Banks said the following:
Our position is that it is absolutely unacceptable. No one, known terrorist or not, should be released into the country. If you come in illegally, there’s gonna be a consequence and we are going to apply our consequence. We aren’t just going to open our doors. And you can see that by the 87% reduction that the state of Texas has had through Operation Lonestar.
Two weeks ago they released eight terrorists from Tajikistan and didn’t realize until after they were gone. The fact is most of the people coming across aren’t even producing identification, so if they are not already on a US database, they do not know who they are releasing, and let’s not forget the over 2 million known gottaways. If you could just cross the border, turn yourself in to border patrol, and be released by this administration, why would you risk getting away? You’re risking getting away because you don’t want to be caught because you know you have something in your file or on your records that will prevent you from being released, and we’re looking at well over two million of those and that’s a best guess–that’s just the known gotaways.
The pair also discussed how the DHS stopped releasing numbers of terrorists that have crossed the border.
“Congress had to force the DHS to release the numbers on the 99 known terrorists that have been released into the country. Anytime we heard that the media had reached out to them, they claimed that they were protecting the rights of the people they were releasing,” said Banks.
Banks assured listeners that Texas is making good progress on its border wall, with approximately one mile being built each week, and it is being built with the same standards as the Trump Border Wall. Additionally, Texas has laid hundreds of miles of razor wire, anti-climb barriers, and buoys. 16 other states have assisted Texas with their efforts to secure the border.
“Absolutely walls work. They are a force multiplier. They allow you to control so much more of a larger area with less manpower, and then when you add the technology to those walls such as the cameras, you can see the traffic and adjust your people.”