Texas Politics spoke with Representative Ronny Jackson (R-TX) regarding the southern border and the federal government's approach to securing the area. The Texas congressman provided his approval of President Trump's performance but shared that the Texas delegation is looking for the Lone Star State to be reimbursed for its efforts to rein in illegal immigration during former President Joe Biden's (D) administration.
In January, Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) sent a letter to Congressional leadership and the Texas Congressional delegation requesting this funding.
Gov. Abbott stated, "President Biden’s policies left Texas and the rest of America defenseless against an unprecedented infiltration of violent criminals, known terrorists, and other hostile foreign actors, like the dangerous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua ... Over the past four years, OLS efforts successfully reduced illegal immigration into Texas by 87%, demonstrated the ongoing effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s border measures, and shone a spotlight on a national crisis. In total, Texas has spent over $11.1 billion to protect the nation and secure the border. Accordingly, I am formally requesting that the federal government reimburse Texas for these costs in full.”
Now six weeks into the Trump administration, Rep. Jackson shared that the Republican delegation from Texas is looking to make this funding for the state a major priority moving forward.
"You know, the governor has been really aggressive about securing the border, even during the Biden administration, I thought he did a great job," said Rep. Jackson. "Our focus right now is we're going to be working hard, talking to the White House about reimbursing the state of Texas for the $11 billion that we spent doing the federal government's job securing our border. And I think President Trump is sympathetic to that."
We asked Jackson when to expect some movement on this issue. His response:
"I don't know, we'll see. But the Texas delegation, we're coming together as a delegation, and we're going to basically say, 'Hey, you know, this is this is something that we want to see happen as a delegation, we have the biggest delegation in the Republican Conference, and we want to see our state reimbursed for doing the federal government's job for the last four years,'" said Jackson.
