Mayorkas denounces Gov. Abbott's efforts to fortify border with razor wire, says migrants "easily cutting" barriers
CBSN
Washington — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday denounced Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's effort to fortify stretches of the southern border with razor and concertina wire as ineffective, saying migrants are "easily cutting" the barriers.
"We do not consider concertina wire to be effective. It impairs Customs and Border Protection's ability to do its job, and we're also seeing migrants rather easily cutting concertina wire," Mayorkas told a group of reporters who attended a roundtable on Friday at Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters in Washington.
As part of a broader, multi-billion-dollar campaign known as Operation Lone Star, Abbott has instructed state National Guard troops to put up concertina and razor wire, as well as other barriers, along parts of Texas' border with Mexico. The wire is currently at the center of an ongoing legal battle in federal court between Texas and the U.S. Justice Department.
