Wade Miller: Texas is a defacto Sanctuary State
Texas under Greg Abbott is a de facto sanctuary state—not by explicit defiance, but by the sin of omission. Texas leaders have failed to act decisively, and in that silence, lawlessness has taken root. Steve McCraw, former Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) continues to work behind the scenes to push resistance to the Trump border security agenda.
There is a reason Texas hasn’t embraced the 287(g) immigration enforcement program put forward by the Trump admin to empower Texas to do more than it has done.
Abbott Insiders say that embracing the 287 (g) program would divert resources from DPS’s “real mission.” But what exactly is that mission, if not protecting Texans from an unprecedented invasion?
Texas DPS’s border apprehension numbers are often touted as proof of success—yet, those numbers are artificially inflated. They don’t reflect enforcement success; they reflect surrender.
Thousands of illegal aliens simply walked up and gave themselves up. That’s not law enforcement. That’s processing an invasion.
People like Steve McCraw continue to wield immense influence behind the scenes—pressuring Texas leadership and law enforcement to stay the course of inaction, to resist federal-state partnerships like 287(g), and to undermine the only serious solution on the table: President Trump’s mass deportation strategy.
For years I have said that McGraw and others in the Abbott admin (including Abbott) were not serious about securing the border and stopping illegal immigration.
This is the reality: Texas cannot claim to be serious about border and internal security while DPS leadership is actively opposing the tools that would enable real enforcement.
The people of Texas—and the American people—deserve better than bureaucratic deflection and political appeasement. It’s time to choose sides: the rule of law or the status quo of surrender.