Texas allocates $250 million toward border wall construction, allows donations towards effort

Texas officials signed a letter on Wednesday authorizing the transfer of $250 million to begin the process of building a border wall in the Lone Star State.

"The letter that we are about to sign provides $250 million dollars to be allocated as a down payment to begin the border wall," Gov. Greg Abbott said during a press conference on Wednesday just before signing the letter along with Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, state House Speaker Dade Phelan, state Senate Committee on Finance Chair Sen. Jane Nelson, and state House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Greg Bonnen. "And we are committed to adding more resources as needed going forward," the governor said.

Abbott signed a letter instructing the Texas Facilities Commission to to hire a program manager tasked with overseeing the state's wall project. 

The governor also signed a letter calling upon President Biden to return any Texas land taken from its owners by the federal government in order to build a border wall.

"The federal government used condemnation powers to take property from Texans for the purpose of building a border wall. Once you took office, however, your Administration made clear the federal government will not move forward with building the border wall at this time," the letter states. "I write now to demand that you immediately return to Texans any land taken by the federal government but not used for building a border wall."

"Texas will talk to those property owners about Texas using that land to build the wall," the governor said during the press conference.

People can donate money to the Lone Star State's wall construction effort.

"The bottom line is this: The Biden administration has abandoned its responsibility to apply federal law to secure the border and to enforce the immigration laws and Texans are suffering as a consequence of that neglect by the Biden Administration. In the federal government's absence Texas is stepping up to get the job done. We will build the wall, we will secure the border, but most importantly, we will restore safety to the citizens who live in the Lone Star State," Abbott said during the press conference.