Abbott renews border disaster declaration in 43 Texas counties

AUSTIN, Texas - Gov. Greg Abbott has extended his disaster declaration for 43 Texas counties in response to the ongoing border crisis.

The governor had originally issued a disaster declaration in late May for 34 counties along the border and then amended the declaration in late June to only include the 28 counties that locally declared a disaster and agreed to partner with the state on its border security efforts — including arresting and detaining people for crimes related to the border crisis. 

The renewed disaster declaration now includes 43 counties in South Texas and along the border that have joined in on this state partnership and declared their own local disaster.

Gov. Abbott's office says that the disaster declaration provides more resources and strategies to combat the ongoing influx of unlawful immigrants and authorizes the use of all necessary and available state and local resources to protect landowners in these counties from trespassers and the damage caused to private property.

Counties included in the disaster declaration are Bee, Brewster, Brooks, Colorado, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, DeWitt, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Hudspeth, Jackson, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Kimble, Kinney, La Salle, Lavaca, Live Oak, Mason, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Menard, Midland, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Schleicher, Sutton, Terrell, Throckmorton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Wharton, Zapata, and Zavala.

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