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Texas gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines is going on the offensive, blasting Gov. Greg Abbott and tethering him to President Joe Biden when it comes to the policy of allowing immigrants into the country illegally.
“No one should be surprised when a violent criminal goes on to commit more violent crime. So why is the government allowing these criminals, who are not even in our country legally, back onto the streets?" Huffines asked. "Joe Biden and Greg Abbott are responsible for this. When I am governor, these murders will stop because all illegal aliens will be deported from the state of Texas.”
The statement by Huffines comes after it was found that a man charged with capital murder in the recent fatal shooting of a Texas corporal had entered the country illegally. He was referring to a recent incident in which a law enforcement officer was killed.
On Jan. 23, Harris County Corporal Charles Galloway pulled a vehicle over. The driver of the vehicle got out and immediately fired shots from a rifle at Galloway while he was still sitting in his car and killed him. The suspect's common-law wife and her brother allegedly were seen later that day taking things out of the vehicle and wiping down its handles.
The Houston Police Department arrested both of them for tampering or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair and found that they were both non-citizens. The man who allegedly killed Galloway fled to Mexico, where he was apprehended. He is now being charged with capital murder. An ICE spokesperson confirmed that the suspect, 50-year-old Jose Oscar Rosales, is a citizen of El Salvador and had entered the U.S. illegally.
In the first three months of Fiscal Year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have encountered 518,360 people attempting to enter the country illegally. In the same time period in FY 2021, that number was 218,036, and in FY 2020, it was 128,347.
According to a poll conducted by Quinnipiac from Dec. 2-6, 2021, 33% of Texans say border security is the “most urgent issue” facing Texas today– followed by the economy (11%), abortion (9%), COVID-19 (8%) and election integrity (8%). More than half of Texans surveyed by Quinnipiac (51%) support Texas building a wall along its Mexican border; 85% of Republicans want a wall, 48% of Independents and 10% of Democrats.
Huffines will face Abbott in the gubernatorial primary March 1. He represented Texas' 16th State Senate District in the state Senate from 2016-2019. Huffines is the CEO of Huffines Communities, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based real estate development firm.