With the border quiet, Texas ponders spending another $6.5 billion on border security

Shelby Park, until recently occupied by state troopers and the Texas National Guard, sits next to the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass. (Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune)

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Texas’ massive, multibillion-dollar mission to reinforce its border with Mexico helped Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland hire two full-time deputies and three part-timers. It gave him the money to buy equipment and new vehicles. In the lawman’s words, it “kept us alive” as the number of illegal border crossings skyrocketed under the Biden administration to record highs.