Last week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that he'd be seeking private donations to fund the construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border. A lot of people laughed, but they may not be laughing now.

The Texas Tribune reports that the effort has already raised over $459,000 in private donations. That and any further donations that come in will be combined with $250 million Abbott has said he plans to set aside for continuing the border wall project after former president Donald Trump's efforts were shut down.

Abbott has doubled down in recent weeks on making border security a top priority. It's sure to be a priority when a special session for which he's called begins on July 8.

The announcement of such a huge influx of donations comes as Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are scheduled to visit the southern border in Texas Friday.

Harris' focus will be on discouraging further immigration from Central America - specifically, Guatemala. She's fresh from a trip to that nation, where she met with the president to address the underlying issues prompting mass migration north.

She's stirred up controversy from both sides of the aisle after addressing the people of Guatemala, saying, "Do not come. Do not come."

"The president and I discussed the fundamental belief that most people don't want to leave home," Harris said. "They don't want to leave the place where they grew up; where the language they know is spoken; where their culture that they know is present and has been, in this case, for centuries."

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Harris is reportedly working with officials at home and abroad to improve conditions in Central American nations from which many migrants are coming, but Reuters reports that mistrust and corruption have been cited as obstacles.

Gov. Abbott issued a statement about Harris' visit Wednesday:

"Vice President Harris is ignoring the real problem areas along our southern border that are not protected by the border wall and are being overrun by the federal government's ill-thought-out open border policies. She will fail in her mission if she refuses to speak to residents of the Del Rio sector whose homes and ranches are being overrun by gangs and smugglers.

The Vice President was named Border Czar over 90 days ago, and in that time Texans have had their homes broken into, property damaged, and guns pointed at their heads as cartels, smugglers, and human traffickers profit off the Biden Administration’s reckless open-border policies. I launched Operation Lone Star in March to combat this record-high influx of people and crime, and since then DPS has arrested over 1,700 criminals, apprehended over 41,000 migrants, and seized enough fentanyl to kill over 21 million people.

Texas has been and continues to step up to protect Texans and Americans."

Abbott has also questioned VP Harris' timing in a recent tweet.



You and I won't solve the pressing immigration issues of our time by arguing in any comment sections, but it'll be interesting to see how VP Harris' visit plays out and the back and forth we're sure to see between her and over leaders such as Gov. Abbott during and after her visit.

Meanwhile, if you're interested in throwing some money into border wall fund, you can donate online or get information on where to mail a check Gov. Abbott's Donate to the Texas Border Wall website.

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