Texas puts up billboards in Mexico, Central America to warn migrants about travel to US

EAGLE PASS, Texas – Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a new campaign in the state’s efforts to stop illegal immigration.

Abbott announced that dozens of billboards will be put up in Mexico and Central America to warn migrants about the dangers of crossing the border.

“Your wife and daughter will pay for the trip with their bodies. Coyotes lie. Don’t put your family in danger,” one of the billboards reads.

The governor’s office says over 40 billboards will be placed in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and along the Texas-Mexico border. The first billboards as part of the roughly $100,000 campaign went up on Wednesday.

The boards will be in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.

The governor announced the plan at Wall Ranch in Eagle Pass.

Kimberly and Martin Wall say women who tried to cross the border illegally were sexually assaulted on their property.

“It terrifies you to go out of your own house and enjoy your own property,” Kimberly Wall said. “You don’t know if you’re going to be attacked by one of the men hiding in the brush. We all want a better life for everyone.”

Governor Abbott spoke next to a burned tree where Wall said coyotes sexually assaulted a woman and hung their clothes from a tree.

Boundary wall

During the visit, Governor Abbott also spoke about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans at the border.

The governor said Trump will begin deportations on day one and plans to expand the wall along the border.

“We would be more than happy to build the wall as long as the federal government pays for it,” Abbott said.

Abbott says Texas will work hand-in-hand with the Trump administration to combat the problems at the border.

US Border SecurityU.S. Border WallImmigrationTexasGreg AbbottDonald J. Trump