WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Congressman August Pfluger (R-Texas-11) led a letter with members of the Texas congressional delegation to the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) urging them to prioritize the release of funds set aside in the One Big Beautiful Bill to reimburse the State of Texas for the more than $11 billion spent on border security efforts during the disastrous Biden-Harris border crisis.
Excerpts and highlights from the letter:
“President Trump’s signature legislative accomplishment, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, created two funds totaling $13.5 billion for the purpose of reimbursing states for stepping up when President Biden willfully refused to enforce our immigration laws at the border. The State of Texas bore the heaviest burden, incurring $11.1 billion in costs over four years. We respectfully request that the Departments prioritize Texas in disbursing these funds.
“In March 2021, Texas Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star to help secure the border when the federal government would not. Through this whole-of-government approach, the State of Texas built miles of border wall and buoy barriers and deployed personnel to maintain border infrastructure and apprehend illegal aliens, gang members, and other criminals.
“Texas’s actions through Operation Lone Star were absolutely vital to ensuring the safety and security of Americans across our great country. However, our State should not have had to bear alone the costs of securing the border when former President Biden intentionally failed to do so. We therefore respectfully ask that, as the Departments prepare to disburse the funds set aside in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the State of Texas be fully reimbursed for the costs incurred to protect Americans from illegal immigration and drug trafficking under former President Biden’s disastrous leadership.”
Click here to read the full letter.
Additional signatories include Representatives Pete Sessions (R-Texas-17), John Carter (R-Texas -31), Michael McCaul (R-Texas -10), Randy Weber (R-Texas -14), Roger Williams (R-Texas -25), Brian Babin (R-Texas -36), Jodey Arrington (R-Texas -19), Michael Cloud (R-Texas -27), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas -02), Lance Gooden (R-Texas -05), Chip Roy (R-Texas -21), Pat Fallon (R-Texas -04), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas -23), Ronny Jackson (R-Texas -13), Tory Nehls (R-Texas -22), Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas -24), Jake Ellzey (R-Texas -06), Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas -15), Wesley Hunt (R-Texas -38), Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas -08), Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas -01), Keith Self (R-Texas -03), Brandon Gill (R-Texas -26), and Craig Goldman (R-Texas -12).
