West Texas Congressional Contingent Voices Opposition to Closing of Border Patrol Stations

Today, Congressmen Randy Neugebauer (TX-19), Mac Thornberry (pictured) (TX-13) and Mike Conaway (TX-11) jointly sent a letter to the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol protesting the closing of nine Border Patrol stations.  The stations are interior Border Patrol Stations located in Lubbock, San Angelo, Abilene and Amarillo. (You can view a PDF of the letter by clicking this link)

The Border Patrol issued a memo July 2, 2012 announcing their intention to close the stations.

“The U.S. Border Patrol made this announcement without first ensuring that local law enforcement agencies will have the necessary resources to deal with the serious illegal immigration problems in our area,” Congressman Thornberry said.

According to the Congressmen, during the last fiscal year an average of 142 illegal aliens were apprehended by each agent at the Amarillo and Lubbock stations alone.  An additional 638 have been made just this year.  The letter highlighted these statistics and questioned whether local law enforcement authorities will have to release individuals in the future if USBP or ICE agents are unable to respond to the scene of illegal alien apprehensions in the future.

“Border security is of the utmost importance to our country.  But we know that between the border patrol offices in Amarillo and Lubbock, more than 700 illegal immigrants were detained,” said Congressman Neugebauer. “The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t demonstrated that sending additional resources to the border will be a more efficient use of resources than maintaining a presence further north.  I’d like to see numbers that reassure me that this strategy change won’t ultimately result in fewer arrests.”

You'll be able to hear Congressman Neugebauer further discuss this issue next Monday on Lubbock's First News at 7:35a.