GOP lawmaker introduces legislation to reimburse Texas for billions it used to secure the border

Congressman Roger Williams, R-Texas, introduced legislation to reimburse his home state for billions of dollars it spent to secure the southern border. 

The legislation, titled "Operation Lone Star Reimbursement Act," would reimburse Texas for almost $4 billion in expenses, according to Fox News. 

"The Federal Government is primarily responsible for securing the borders of the United States at and between ports of entry," the bill states, according to the outlet. "Due to the lack of action by the Federal Government, the State of Texas has been forced to continually appropriate funds to secure the southern border of the United States."

If the federal legislation were to pass, the Treasury secretary would reimburse the state.

"As the border crisis rages on, President Biden has failed to uphold his duty to defend our borders from foreign invasion, leaving border states like Texas to fend for themselves," Williams told Fox News Digital in an interview. "I am proud to introduce the Operation Lone Star Reimbursement Act to ensure Texans don’t have to continually shell out taxpayer dollars to secure the southern border of the United States."

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration by temporarily vacating a Fifth Circuit injunction preventing federal agents from cutting the "concertina" razor wire fencing that Texas placed along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a social media posting that "Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants" and that he had "enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along the State's southern border." He also said that Texas would continue to "deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration."

The Homeland Security Department revealed last month that the backlog of tracking and vetting illegal aliens inside the U.S. has nearly doubled under Biden to over six million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.