Chad’s Morning Brief: Greg Abbott Orders National Guard to Stay on the Border & Americans Don’t Have Much Faith in the Government When it Comes to Terrorism

A spike in illegal immigration means the Texas National Guard isn't going anywhere. The Chad Hasty Show airs 8:30-11am on 790AM KFYO.

Texas National Guard

According to the Texas Tribune, the Texas National Guard was originally supposed to leave the border by the end of December, but Governor Abbott has ordered the guard to stay in place.

The troops were originally scheduled to leave by the end of the month, but Abbott said in a statement that because of federal inaction, the Guard will stay in place.

“In September, I warned Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson ‘about the significant increase in unaccompanied minors who are once again pouring across our border,’” Abbott said. “Despite the warning – followed by a phone discussion about the matter – my request for more [Border Patrol] agents and strategic resources to secure the border were ignored.”

Abbott cited figures from the U.S. Border Patrol that indicate the number of minors crossing into the region doubled from 3,219 in October and November of 2014 to 6,465 for the same two months in 2015.

The governor’s office has also allocated $4.7 million in grants for overtime and other operating costs for law enforcement in the area.

National Guard troops have been in the area since former Gov. Rick Perry ordered them there in summer 2014, when the surge of undocumented immigrants, mainly from Central America, began in earnest.

Abbott has also ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to team up with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to increase boat patrols in the Rio Grande. He’s also allocated $200,000 in grant funding to aid Ellis and Rockwall counties to increase safety and emergency services after the arrival of 1,000 of the undocumented children.

The original deployment of the National Guard was met with harsh criticism from Democrats, who said the troops were not needed as the undocumented immigrants posed no security threat to Texans. Instead of evading arrest, opponents argued, the immigrants would instead turn themselves in to American authorities after fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands.

But the Republican leadership argued that the soldiers were needed because transnational gangs and cartel operatives would be able to exploit the fact that U.S. Border Patrol agents were being  overwhelmed by the surge and possibly neglecting their security duties.

If the federal government won't help secure the border, the State of Texas will have to do it.

Preventing Terrorism

Does the federal government have what it takes to stop another terrorist attack? According to POLITICO, a new poll shows that Americans have little faith in the government.

For the first time since the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks more than 14 years ago, the share of Americans who believe in their government's ability to prevent terrorism has fallen below 50 percent, according to the results of the latest Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday.

In the wake of the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, just 46 percent of Americans surveyed said the government is doing enough to reduce the threat of terrorism, down from 72 percent in the same survey in late 2014. Meanwhile, 52 percent said the government is not doing enough to prevent future attacks.

The results skew largely partisan, with 72 percent of Republicans saying that the government is not doing well and just 27 percent responding that things are going fairly or very well. In the case of Democrats, meanwhile, 64 percent to 34 percent think their government is doing all it can. Independents were slightly more split, with 44 percent saying the government is doing well and 55 percent that it is not.

Republicans were also more likely to indicate that anti-terror measures had not gone far enough to protect the country, with 71 percent responding to that effect, compared to 54 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of independents.

Overall, a plurality of 29 percent cited issues related to terrorism, defense and national security as it pertains to the threat posed by the Islamic State as the most important issue facing the country, an increase of 23 points from last December, while 23 percent cited economic issues, a decrease of 11 points from the last survey.

More Republicans pointed to such issues as areas of concern, with 41 percent, while just 23 percent of Democrats and 28 percent of independents indicated the same thing.

When we read stories about how the female terrorist in California posted on social media about jihad and immigration officials are prohibited from checking such websites, of course Americans don't believe the government can stop attacks.