It’s not a wall and it isn’t more boots on the ground, but the Texas Senate has approved a bill that would send millions of dollars of herbicides to the front lines to battle illegal immigration.
The Texas Senate passed legislation to send up to $10 million in additional funding to the Texas border to fight carrizo cane, a weed that can grow 25 feet tall and provides cover for border-crossers along the Rio Grande Valley.
“It’s all about border security,” said state Sen. Donna Campbell, a New Braunfels Republican.
Along the river, carrizo cane grows in thick clumps, like corn or bamboo, and become a good hiding place for people illegally crossing the border. It is an exceptionally fast-growing plant, able to grow about 4 inches per day and reach a mature height of more than 25 feet in about a year.
During a hearing on the bill, state Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, said even infrared equipment is not effective in picking people out of the brush. Flores’ district includes hundreds of miles of the Texas border from Eagle Pass to Big Bend National Park.
Read more from Jeremy Wallace with San Antonio Express-News here.