(NewsNation) — With President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have signaled openness to cutting the state’s spending on border security, the Texas Tribune reported.
The former president has continuously hinted at several actions he plans to take when he returns to office, key among them being mass deportation.
Abbott told reporters last week that Texas “will have the opportunity to consider” repurposing the state money it has plowed into Operation Lone Star. Texas has allocated $11 billion to Operation Lone Star since it launched in 2021.
Abbott’s office had asked lawmakers to approve another $2.9 billion in the upcoming legislative session and now says OLS money could be used for things like property tax cuts or education, the Texas Tribune reports.
“President Trump will provide a more secure border than any president in the history of the United States of America,” Abbott said a day after the election. “I’ve had private talks with the president, and he’s going to be stronger and better at securing the border than he was in his first term, which was very strong and effective.”
Patrick, another top elected official in Texas, said that Trump’s victory could mean shifting spending priorities for the state.
“We had to do everything we could to protect our citizens,” Patrick said in an interview with WFAA-TV in Dallas. “We’re going to be able to take a lot of that money now and put it back to our taxpayers, for roads, for water, for education, for health care, for all the things that we need that Joe Biden forced us to spend because he was letting millions of people cross the border.”