(NewsNation) — In Del Rio, Texas, migrants regularly try to evade law enforcement when they cross the southern border.
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is trying to prevent that from happening by expanding Del Rio’s border wall and equipping it with thousands of cameras monitored by the Texas Department of Public Safety so they can root out any so-called “blind spots.”
On Wednesday, crews contracted by the governor were moving full steam ahead with the wall expansion, put into place under Operation Lone Star, an initiative aiming to cut down on unlawful border entries. Abbott deployed approximately 7,600 cameras along the border through the operation. Around 1,000 of them are affixed to the wall already, some of which are operational, with another 2,500 cameras anticipated to be installed in the coming months.
Cameras on the border wall aren’t the only thing Texas officials are doing to deter unlawful migration.
Last year, they also rolled out a mobile modular surveillance system as another obstacle to migrants trying to cross the border unlawfully.
Mounted on a truck platform, the system combines fixed and mobile surveillance technologies, allowing users to observe activity across vast distances. All camera feeds go to the Border Security Operations Center, which has been up and running for years and handles the feed from thousands of cameras along the border.
“Texas continues to utilize every tool and strategy to respond to the Biden-made crisis, including deploying cameras along the border wall to see any people approaching and ensure a quick law enforcement response to stop illegal crossings,” Mike Banks, picked by Abbott to be the border czar, said in a statement to NewsNation.
Texas has allocated more than $11 billion from state taxpayers to pay for border security, which is how the project was funded.