Concertina wire for migrant holding pens trucked into Rio Grande Valley

MISSION, Texas (Border Report) — Concertina wire to deter migrants from illegally crossing the border and to build holding pens for those that do come across has arrived in the Rio Grande Valley, Border Report has learned.

Texas National Guard members on Thursday morning guarded trucks full of the “C-wire” in a remote area south of Mission, Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott on April 6 announced sweeping new security “strategies” for Operation Lone Star that would include razor wire deployed on the banks of the Rio Grande. This is in anticipation of a surge of migrants trying to cross if Title 42 is lifted at the end of the month.

Other measures Abbots has implemented include busing migrants to Washington, D.C., as well as mandatory truck inspections, which cost the state over $4 billion in economic losses after some international bridges shut down due to increased wait times.

Abbott and the leaders of Mexican border states, however, ended up reaching agreements that would step up truck inspections and other border security measures south of the Rio Grande.

Texas Military Adjutant General Thomas Suelzer, who heads the Texas National Guard, was with Abbott on April 6 and expanded on the new strategies, saying, “For engineering capabilities, we’ll be prepared to hastily put out concertina wire and produce concertina holding areas for anybody who should decide to cross into Texas.”

Border Report on Thursday reached out to Texas Military officials for clarification on whether these spools of concertina wire that have just arrived are to be used for holding areas, or not.

Maj. Mike Perry responded that “Texas National Guard engineers assigned to Operation Lone Star deploy the C-wire on state and private property to deter illegal crossings along the Texas-Mexico border. Some of the wire is used at the behest of private land/ranch owners to prevent criminal activity on their land as well as to assist local and state law enforcement officials in preventing criminal trespass along the border region.”

But some locals told Border Report they resent the increased “militarization” of the South Texas border.

And they question how humane it would be to put up outdoor holding pens as hurricane season is about to begin and triple-digit temperatures are forecast for this weekend.

But Suelzer said locals in border communities need to get used to it.

“If you live along the southern border of Texas you can anticipate to see increased (military) activity in the RGV along the Anzalduas Bridge area, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Laredo and Zapata,” Suelzer said on April 6.

Abbott said the Department of Homeland Security estimates up to 18,000 migrants could try to cross per day if Title 42 is lifted.

It is unclear, however, if that will happen because there are several court challenges to the Biden administration’s request to rollback Title 42, a public health initiative implemented in March 2020 by the Trump administration to prevent the spread of coronavirus across borders,