Texas counties on the U.S.-Mexico border are increasing in population despite years of concerns about illegal immigration.
The Texas border has become a national symbol for the debate about undocumented individuals, though efforts to deter illegal entry were increased in March 2021 when Governor Greg Abbott and state officials began Operation Lone Star to provide an abundance of funding and resources toward border wall construction and enforcement.
Texas' southern border crossings increased from 1.05 million in fiscal year 2021 to 1.33 million and 1.31 million in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to federal data. Between October and January of the current fiscal year, there were about 472,800 illegal encounters, though numbers dropped between January to February by 81,987 encounters.
New data released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau shows a population increase between 2022 and 2023 in nearly all border counties, with two—Zapata and Terrell—decreasing by 102 residents and one resident, respectively.
The counties that experienced population growth included Brewster, Cameron, El Paso, Hidalgo, Hudspeth, Kinney, Maverick, Starr, Val Verde and Webb.
Abbott has touted the construction of billions of dollars' worth of border wall in Cameron, Maverick, Starr, Val Verde and Webb counties. Cameron is the southernmost county in Texas.
The state population increased from about 29.14 million in April 2020 to 30.5 million, according to the most recently released data.
Terrell County, one of the least populous counties in the nation, contains more than 2,300 square miles—including a shared 54-mile border with the Rio Grande, accompanied by a federal Border Patrol station responsible for a 91-mile stretch between Texas and Mexico.
The county's sheriff, Thaddeus Cleveland, told Newsweek that he—a former Border Patrol agent for more than two decades—and other members of law enforcement have seen a deceased number of migrants compared to past years.
Cleveland wrote a letter to Abbott in November 2022 requesting more statewide assistance, resulting in 10 additional Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers being sent.
In fiscal year 2023, the county seized 116 vehicles that were purportedly smuggling illegal migrants. DPS seized 67 vehicles.
Migrants entering the U.S. illegally through Texas have also overwhelmed local hospitals. Rajiv Rajani, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) in El Paso, told Newsweek that migrant injuries have escalated.
"We're seeing up to 10 [migrant injuries] a week," Rajani, who is about four minutes from the border, said via phone. "And in our quiet times, we'll see one to two a week. Many times, you're seeing about 10."
Rajani deals specifically with lower extremity injuries, which encompass about 75 percent of the cases he and other physicians see at the El Paso facility.
"I would say that these [injuries] are fairly either incredibly traumatic, physically, and it can be life-altering," he said. "So, it's not like a typical health issue that you would note in any other immigration patterns. You can't model this in some other country because they don't have this level of physical barrier.
"There hopefully will be some other mechanism to avoid these level of injuries....Anytime somebody falls from the 20- to 30-foot range, which can lead to pretty catastrophic, long-term medical conditions and issues, [it is serious.]"
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Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
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