The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Communities Frustrated and Frighted Over Biden’s Border Crisis, Texas Land Commissioner Explains

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

Drug cartel activity and human smuggling have become tragically commonplace for many Texas communities. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham says Texans are deeply frustrated with the situation at their southern border, a situation she describes as "frightening."  There is a “tremendous loss of life with the increase in crime” at the southern border, Buckingham says, adding, “We’re going to do everything we possibly can, but unfortunately it is sort of trying to trap water in a sieve. When the federal government [is] ... tying the hands of our Border Patrol agents … it's an uphill battle, but we're going to continue to fight every day.” Buckingham joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss how locals in Texas view the illegal-immigration crisis and what the Texas General Land Office is doing to secure the southern border. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal Podcast for Tuesday, February 28th. I'm Virginia Allen. Drug cartels and human smuggling is something many Texas communities are all too familiar with. Texas Land Commissioner Don Buckingham says Texans are deeply frustrated with the situation at the southern border, a situation she describes as frightening. Buckingham joins the Daily Signal podcast today to discuss how locals in Texas view the crisis on the southern border. and how the Texas General Land Office is working to secure the southern border. Stay tuned for our conversation after this. Hi, I'm John Carlo Canaparo.

And I'm Zach Smith. And we host SCOTUS 101. It's a podcast where you'll get a breakdown of top cases in the highest court in the land. Hear from some of the greatest legal minds. And, of course, get a healthy dose of Supreme Court trivia. Want to listen? Find us wherever you get your podcasts or just head toheritage.org slash podcast. We are joined today by Texas Land Commissioner Don Buckingham.

Commissioner, welcome to the show. Hey, it's great to be on with y'all today. Thanks so much for having me. Oh, this is going to be fun. This is a real pleasure. I know that you in your capacity as commissioner and your office, the Texas General Land Office, you all touch so many different aspects of things within the state of Texas. For those that aren't familiar with what a land commissioner does,

Can you just explain that? Absolutely. You know, I tell everybody that the general land office is the office that touches the lives of Texans every day, and they have no idea that we even exist. So we actually predate the governor when we were transitioning from a sovereign nation to a state. You know, our forefathers, we had to figure out who owned what, because we had overlapping land grants with the various flags we had lived under. And so we became the keepers of maps, the guardians of Texas history,

and the steward to what is now 13 million acres, which today is incredibly important. We are basically the reason why Texas is leading the nation and the world and energy production and such a big part of keeping our energy independence, which is so incredibly important because, of course, we have minerals on a whole lot of those 13 million acres with a tip of the spear for defending our history, our border, and oil and gas against what the left is trying to do.

We also fund education. We fund our state veterans programs. We do all the big HUD-related disaster recovery in the state, and we do everything coastal restoration. So it's a really big job that you're right. We have our fingers in every aspect of the state. Yeah, you all are busy. Well, what comes, I know, with watching over and working to preserve all of that land

and touching aspects of that, of course, in what's happening right now along our southern border, you all are directly affected by that. And I know you're dealing with aspects of the border crisis. So how has the crisis at the southern border affected Texas land and your ability to do your job well? Well, you know, the general land office actually built the first section of the wall many, many years ago. We recognized how important complete operational control it is of our border. We had a flood control levy project that just happened to get a big fence on it. So where there's a will, there's a way.

But I tell you what, this Biden border blunder is completely unacceptable. The number of trafficked youth that we're seeing. the amount of deadly fentanyl that's coming across our border. You know, basically I've seen estimates that we have higher levels of slavery today than we have at any other time around the world because these folks come in and then they're obligated to the people who bring them across. And it's just unconscionable what is happening to these folks. And it's these, it's Biden's border policies that are driving that.

And since you do interact with so many different Texans, what are people in your state saying about this? How are they affected? Whether they're entrepreneurs or they're in a profession like teaching or maybe they're veterans, what are they saying about the situation at the border and how it's affecting them and their families? You know, folks are deeply frustrated. Resources are stretched so thin. If you look at our border communities and they are lovely communities along the border. You know, I always like to emphasize that. how wonderful those communities are. But when you look at the strain that this puts on the medical supplies on our schools, you know, you go to the stores. It wasn't too long ago. You couldn't even find any baby formula.

We had some friends who live along the border who were up visiting us at our ranch. And, you know, I called them on the way, leaving the ranch and just said, hey, thanks for coming. And boy, it sounds like y'all are in the store somewhere. And they said, heck, yeah, we stopped it. at a tractor supply because you can't find a weed eater. You can't find anything down the border because all the resources are just being taken to try and deal with this massive humanity coming across.

And so they are deeply frustrated and they really feel like the Biden administration doesn't care about them. They feel like their policies are hurting their communities. And they are very, very frustrated. Now, we recently saw that the Biden administration proposed a new asylum rule. And what this says is that migrants who cross through another country to get to America and who do not enter the country legally that they will not be eligible to claim asylum. So if this new rule goes into effect, essentially migrants would have three options.

They could apply for citizenship legally, of course. They could claim asylum in another country that they enter, that's maybe close to their home country, or they could use an app to apply for asylum from their home country and apply for asylum in America. This policy is quite similar to a policy that we had under former President Donald Trump. But explain your thoughts on this. Do you think that this would help to really stop this constant flood of illegal migrants crossing the border? You know, I think it's ironic that the Biden administration is now instituting politics. policies that basically Trump had that they were so critical of for so long. And it just shows

their ineptness and able to deal with this problem and the role that their failed policies have played in this mass of humanity coming across. So we saw under Trump, basically, I think there's more term to stay in Mexico, but it's very similar policy. And it did help to curb the illegal immigration that was coming across. But, you know, again, I just really want to emphasize that people who benefit financially from these policies, from the Biden administration, are the cartels and the most violent gangs in Texas. These are the folks who are getting the money from the people that are crossing and then benefiting from their forced labor, whether it's human trafficking, whether it's workforce labor, whether it's the drugs that they're going to carry

for them. And we just need to be doing everything we possibly can to be stopping this atrocity and keeping our community safe. Yeah. We're hearing so many tragedies as it relates to really what's happening with the cartels and the influence of the cartels. Now, what role are the cartels playing on the U.S. side of the border? Because we know that for all intents and purposes, the cartels have operational control of the Mexican side of the border.

But what about the U.S. side? Well, what I'm hearing is that a lot of the cartel members actually live in Texas, have taken over some of the small towns, and they just commute back and forth, but they feel like it's safer to sleep at night in Texas with our, with our, you know, rule of law. And so, you know, again, it's amazing when you go down to the border because when you get on our side of the river, there's just piles and piles and piles of wristbands. And each wristband is tied to a cartel.

what I hear is the people crossing get a certain number of attempts and then they have to pay again and then as soon as they successfully get across they they rip that wristband off and just leave it there as as trash and so there is no doubt that the cartels are directly tied whether they're doing it themselves bringing the people from the border up and into the state and the rest of the country or if they're just partnering with some of our most violent gangs that are then transporting all the people and the drugs up. So it is a direct communication, and it is just really frightening and honestly abhorable that, that again, that these Biden policies are driving this, and that these increase in slavery and the increase in deadly fentanyl and the increase in the human trafficking is just

reaching unprecedented levels. Yeah, well, and I know that you in your office and Governor Abbott through Lone Star that you all have been really trying to tackle this head on. Talk a little bit about how you all are addressing the issues. And even though maybe you're not feeling the support that you'd like to be feeling from the Biden administration, how you all are taking action to try and secure the southern border in Texas. Absolutely. You know, the federal government is supposed to be the one that's controlling our borders. And it's ironic, too, that when it comes to Ukraine, they think Ukraine needs a border, but they don't think Texas needs a border. And so, but, you know, Texas, where the federal government has continued to fail, Texas has continued to step in.

We have been spending billions of dollars a year on border security. We have increased local police presence as well as our state police and state military. We have created offenses so that when these folks do get arrested for the crimes that they commit, they get a record. You know, what we're seeing is, unfortunately, a big revolving door, especially with a lot of the activist liberal judges that we see, where people are, allegedly have committed many, many rapes or murders. They're let out on bonds without really any bond, and then they rape and they murder again. And so we're seeing a tremendous loss of life with the increase in crime and we're just not going to stand for it. We're going to do everything we possibly can.

But unfortunately, it is sort of like trying to trap water in a sieve. When the federal government continues to be just a sieve with water and really tying the hands of our border patrol agents and their policies that support this mass immigration across our border, it's an uphill battle, but we're going to continue to fight every day in our Department of Public Safety, our local law enforcement, they are in this fight with us. I want to take a few minutes and talk about the energy issue because that is something that, as you mentioned, your office is on the forefront in. And with Texas being such an important state for energy and energy resources in America,

share if you would a little bit about the priorities that you all are working on right now and how the work that you all are doing, you know, can help to make America more. more energy independent? You know, energy independence is incredibly important. We saw last winter where tankers of Texas liquefied natural gas that have actually already gone through the Panama Canal had to turn back around and go to Germany because those Green New Deal policies were leaving people freezing in their homes in the winter. So energy independence is incredibly important. You know, there's going to be a mass of new technology coming up, all the hydrogen technology. is very exciting.

But in order to be independent and resilient, you have to be able to produce your own energy. And it's part of the problem and part of why Ukraine stays so vulnerable to the overtures and war on behalf of the Russians. And so we're going to continue to support oil and gas. We're going to continue to look at new technologies with roughly 1,100 people a day that move to this state. Our energy demands are going through the roof. It's a little funny.

You know, in California, they're telling you you can't plug in your electric car to charge, you know, because all their policies are actually driving increased energy use that create issues with their grid as well. But I think between new technologies and being sure that we continue to support oil and gas, we look at everything new on the horizon, and we utilize some of our, some of the, the more base generating, get more liquidified natural gas going into our grid. I think Texas is well positioned to continue to lead the nation and honestly the world and energy production. Well, and you mentioned the boom in Texas. So many people are moving to Texas and choosing to relocate there because they like your policies or the warmer weather, lots of

things to like about the state of Texas. How is the state handling that increase in population? Well, infrastructure continues to be a big challenge when you have that many people moving all of the time. So we're continually looking at our roads, our internet access. Honestly, water is going to be one of the biggest fights we have. We're going to have moving into the future. We're starting to really look at desalinization plants off the coast to address our water needs as more and more people move here. So it offers a challenge, but it's a good challenge to have. I will say people come here, and then they tend to vote like where they were from.

And so we have to keep reminding them that there is a reason that they came to Texas. There was a reason that we are leading the economy. I heard the other day that we're actually the eight largest economy in the world, which ironically puts us as a bigger economy as a single entity than Russia. And so we're going to continue to just try. drive that engine, but it is limited government. It is business friendly. It is low tax environment that keeps Texas growing so well. And we're loud and proud about what a great state we are and we're going to continue doing those things. I want to take the last few minutes we have here to talk

about an issue that I know is very important to you and that is caring for our veterans. How is Texas really leading the way in supporting veterans? You know, Texas has any enormous amount of programs that the state runs independent of what the feds run for our veterans. So, and I'm very blessed in the general land office, we have the Veterans Land Board. So if you're a veteran and you want a low interest rate to either buy a house, buy land, or renovate a house, we have a low interest rate loan for you. We run several beautiful veterans nursing homes and really several lovely veteran cemeteries as well. So we are honored to be able to provide these resources for our veteran community.

You know, I'm very clear that we are the land of the free because of the brave and we need to do everything we can possibly do to help our veterans. Thank you so much. Commissioner Don Buckingham, we just really appreciate your time today. Yes, well, I appreciate yours. Thanks so much for having me on. We'll look forward to talking with you again soon. Absolutely.

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