LIVE: Texas Governor Makes New Border Security Announcement

Robert, can you move us forward like we can get a roll? Okay, so that can be there. Okay, well I have to put this on here somewhere. Put it somewhere else here, but I can't go there. Yep. Audio check. No. I can't do an audio check. Can you do an audio check, sir? One, two, three, four. Can I just talk into the mics just to do an audio check? Yeah, I'll do it real quick. Oh, okay. Mic check. One, two. One, two. One, two, three. Mic check. Thumbs up. Mic check. One, two. One, two. One, two, three. Mic check. Everyone good? Thank you. I want to thank everybody for being out here today. I am joined today by General Seltzer, by the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Freeman Martin, by the Texas Border Czar, Mike Banks, by Rose Luna. She is the CEO of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, and also by Martine and Kimberly Wall. This is Kim Wall right here. The Walls are the owners of the property on which we gather today. We gather in areas where they have burned down trees, like the ashes that we see here. The ashes we see here are from trees they burned down, trees where migrant women were being sexually assaulted by coyotes, gangs, and human traffickers. They are known as rape trees. We're here to expose the truth, the truth to immigrants who are thinking about coming here, the truth about the traffickers who assault so many of the women and children along the way. We are launching a new campaign to deter illegal immigration into Texas. Yesterday we began putting up billboards, dozens of billboards, in Central America and in Mexico. They inform potential illegal immigrants about the reality of what will happen to them if they try to enter Texas illegally. These billboards, some of which you can see behind me, they tell the horror stories of human trafficking. One says, many girls who try to migrate to Texas are kidnapped. Another sign says, your wife and daughter will pay for their trip with their bodies. One asks families thinking about sending their kids here, how much did you pay to have your daughter raped? This is tough medicine. But we want no more rape trees in Texas. Do not make the dangerous trek to Texas. For migrants who are now already close to crossing the border illegally, we have billboards providing warning messages in Mexico. They are arrayed across Mexico, but especially along the northern border of Mexico, all the way from Matamoros to Juarez and many places in between. One says, stop. If you cross the border illegally into Texas, you will be jailed. Another warns, don't come to Texas illegally, you will be arrested. And know this, the Trump administration will prioritize for deportation illegal immigrants who have been arrested. To ensure that as many people as possible are aware of these warnings, these billboards are in several languages including Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. To keep illegal immigrants from entering into Texas, we have built walls and razor wire barriers and deployed buoys and container boxes. We have arrested thousands who got by those barriers. We will continue to aggressively arrest immigrants entering Texas illegally. We will work with the Trump administration to deport them. The message is, do not risk a dangerous trip just to be arrested and deported. Next we will have Rosa Luna, the CEO of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, speak to you. Thank you. Hello everybody. My name is Rosa Luna, I'm the CEO of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. We are the statewide sexual assault coalition committed to ending sexual violence in our great state of Texas. First and foremost, our North Star is all survivors of sexual assault regardless of circumstance. Unlike other states in Texas, we have state specific statistics. And according to these figures, 1 in 5 Texas men and 2 in 5 Texas women will experience sexual assault at some point in their lives. This prevalence is staggering, but those are the numbers that we know. Those are the numbers that we can grasp. Alternatively, and the reason why I'm here, is there is a largely unspoken sexual assault crisis impacting women and children migrating to the Texas border. Acknowledging this issue and its profound impact on survivors is not just crucial, it's our responsibility. The anecdotes from women who have made this journey are heartbreaking. A few years ago, during a visit to an immigration facility in Williamson County, there was a long line of women that waited for me to finish my presentation so that they could share their harrowing accounts of sexual assault. It was gut-wrenching, it was heartbreaking to know that I was the first person that they felt safe enough to share their story with. It was very painful, it was very raw. One of the quotes that seared in my brain is, one of them said, the very violence they were trying to escape is the violence that they experienced on the journey here. It's a reminder that there is harm and suffering in this journey. I think the reality is that the price of the journey is very high. It is important for us to recognize that, and it is vital for them to understand that. And most importantly, no one deserves to be raped. No one deserves to be stripped of their dignity under any circumstance. Survivors of sexual assault are not a population that seeks a spotlight, nor are the men, women, and children making decisions on whether or not to make the journey. We applaud the state in recognizing this silent crisis, and for acknowledging and elevating this very serious yet hidden issue. Thank you so much. Next is Kim Wall, the owner of the property on which we're located, but also a person who can share with you some harrowing stories that have occurred on this property. Hello. We've had several rape trees and lots of women that have been found beaten and raped in front of our house, left to die in drainage ditches, where it makes you terrified to go outside of your own house and enjoy your own property. I know that my husband had found three different rape trees, and he burnt them down so we didn't have to see them, and I don't know if he found more because he quit telling me all the things he found, because we were scared. And it's scary when you can't go on your own property and you're told if you do, you have to carry a gun to protect yourself because you don't know if you'll be attacked by one of the men hiding in the brush. There's been numerous children that have been found, different illegals, and we found three people that were found murdered this last year on our property, and it's just scary. And we all want a better life for everybody. Thank you. And that little girl? That little girl? Oh, the one that they found in front of the house? Yeah. She was raped by 12 different men and beaten, left to die. And we were told that we found many, many other ones, the railroad police has and Border Patrol had also. Thank you. I want to thank Kim and Martine for opening up the property, but more importantly for being able to share their story about the reality of what's happening on a daily basis, especially under the Biden administration with the open border policies that have led to so many sexual assaults, murders like what she talked about on this very property. It's a deadly situation, a horrific situation for those who are victims of sexual assault, a horror that we fully expect to end beginning in about a month when President Trump takes office and shuts down the border and restores safety and normalcy to an immigration process. I'll take a few questions. So what Americans expect and what I want to ensure we deliver is making sure that we accomplish one task first, and that is to stop illegal immigration into the United States. And my job is to stop it into the state of Texas. After we accomplish that goal, then we can move on to other goals. And it will be up to the Trump administration and those serving in Washington, D.C. to figure out a pathway forward. But I don't think any American has any appetite to make reforms in the system until we do two things. One is to stop the illegal immigration and show we're going to be able to continue stopping it so that the only immigration that occurs is legal immigration. Governor, you said last month that preparations were underway to have the necessary changes go into effect on day one. Can you give specific examples of what changes are going to be made and what you're doing in preparing for that? Maybe the collaboration between the federal agencies and DPS and National Guard. We haven't had any specific examples of what will change. So, obviously, I don't have the ability to share with you precisely what the Trump administration is talking about. I can give you some top-level things that Tom Holman, the Borders, has talked about, and that is deportations will begin on day one. And one preparation for that is they need more ICE agents. They need more Border Patrol agents, and they will be working to administer those, but also to unleash Border Patrol agents as well as ICE agents to do their jobs. Very importantly, over the past four years, ICE and Border Patrol agents have been hindered in doing their job. Part of doing that job is using the ICE agents to locate those who need to be deported and deport them. So you can expect, and I expect, deportations to be occurring very early in this administration. Second, I'm not even done answering this question yet. Second, there will be a massive expansion of border barriers put up. One thing that President Trump wants to achieve, that Tom Holman wants to achieve, and we must achieve in Texas, and that is to maintain the resistance. Remember this. This is a point that I made to and about President Biden repeatedly. There were three laws that predated even George W. Bush, a law that requires the president to deny illegal entry, a law that requires the president to detain anybody who does enter illegally, and a law that requires the president to build border barriers. Bush and Obama and Trump did all three of those. Biden did none of those three. What Trump will do, he now knows exactly how to execute these duties in office, and from day one, he will execute all three of those duties. This guy, hold a second, this guy has had a question. I'll come back to you. The guy in blue, did you have a question? Say it again. So I'll tell you what Tom Holman said. Tom Holman said, listen, there's no need for family separations, because if there's a person in the family who is in the United States illegally, the Trump administration will deport them. And it's the family that gets to choose. The family gets to choose, are they going to remain together and all go back together, or is the family going to make the decision that the family will have a separation of the family? That's a family choice, not a choice by the Trump administration. So Texas has, and we will continue to do whatever it takes to make sure that we gain control of the illegal immigration that's taking place in the state of Texas, and that means working hand-in-hand with the Trump administration to assist them in making sure that we close the border, secure the border, and aid them in the deportation process. Well, obviously because of the size of the state of Texas, because it's the most southern border state, we have two-thirds of the entire mileage between the United States and Mexico is the state of Texas. There's a lot of reasons why Texas will be playing a centerpiece role in closing the border and in the deportation process. However, this is not a Texas issue, and it's not even a Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California issue. This is an issue for all the states of the United States of America, and it's one of the reasons why Donald Trump was elected in the first place. So Donald Trump and Tom Holman and the entire Trump administration will be working in states all across the United States of America to make sure that if there are illegal immigrants being harbored anywhere, especially those who have committed a crime or pose a national security concern, those are the people that Tom Holman is going to go after first to make sure that we restore order and safety into our communities. The new plan is a deterrent to people who may be on their way to come across the border. Listen, there have been many stories and things that we're monitoring where in the last month before Donald Trump becomes the president, there are many people who may make a last gasp effort to try to cross the border. And our goal right now immediately is not only to discourage them from coming, but to help them understand the consequences when they come. The consequences are that the people coming here, they could be raped, they could be assaulted, they could be killed. But the consequences also are if they do make it across, they will be arrested, they will be jailed, and they will be deported. It is senseless, it is futile for people to try to continue the trek to the United States of America and especially to the state of Texas and enter illegally because you will face bad consequences along the way. And our goal is to stop people in their tracks where they are right now and have them stop making any further trek toward Texas or the United States of America. Sure, I don't have the exact number with me. I think it's roughly about $100,000, could be a little bit more than that. And every tool and strategy that we find and locate are effective strategies. Know what I'm about to tell you, and that is there are a lot of organizations and people who are providing a contrary narrative to what we are saying today. There are the cartels, there are gangs, there are human traffickers, there's even maybe the government of Mexico as well as non-governmental organizations that tell a completely different story and make it sound like it may be harmless going into the state of Texas. And we are trying to provide a pushback against that narrative and provide reality facts for immigrants thinking about coming here to save their lives, to save them from sexual assault, save them from being arrested and let them know there are consequences if they take any further steps to come to the state of Texas. Well, so what the Trump administration is doing, they want to figure out the most cost-effective and strategic way to go about all this process. What the Trump administration knows is that Texas stands ready to assist them in any way. They know that we have the capability of building the wall maybe faster and cheaper than what they're able to do. We'd be more than happy to build the wall, assuming the federal government pays for it. But this is a time where you're going to see, unlike the last four years, you're going to see great collaboration and cooperation so that we're going to be far more effective and be able to move far faster than ever before at securing the border. Great. Thanks, everyone. Thank you all. Have a good day.