Gov. Abbott unveils new billboards meant to deter possible migrants south of the border

EAGLE PASS, Texas (Nexstar) -- Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state is placing billboards in cities south of the international border to deter potential migrants from making the trek north. Abbott said the messaging on the billboards is a dose of "tough medicine" to hopefully prevent people who might be on a trek north now.

The governor made the announcement on private ranchland in Eagle Pass near the U.S.-Mexico border. The ranch is owned by Kim Wall and her husband, Martin. The Wall family said they have found migrant women and children beaten and sexually assaulted on their property.

The family said they burned down several "rape trees" of where these assaults were happening. The Wall family has also said they recently found three people murdered on their property, making them feel unsafe to walk around their land.

He will be joined by Texas Department of Public Safety Director Col. Freeman Martin, Rose Luna, the CEO of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, ranchers Kimberly and Martin Wall, and other state border officials.

In a post to X Thursday morning, the governor said, "Texas is fighting to stop illegal immigration, human smuggling, and drug trafficking. I launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 to do just that."

Since March 2021, when Operation Lone Star began, there have been 516,300 illegal immigrant apprehensions, 45,300 criminal arrests, 39,400 felony charges, and 505 million lethal doses of fentanyl seized, according to the governor's office. Those numbers were last updated in July 2024.

The Texas Facilities Commission, the agency in charge of building the state-funded wall, says Texas has completed 50 miles of the wall so far. There is another 15.5 miles of border that is either under construction or awaiting construction.

There is active border construction at 13 different sites across Cameron, Starr, Zapata, Webb, Maverick, and Val Verde counties, according to the TFC website.