About 20,000 illegal immigrants have crossed into Texas since January 1. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told cbs’s Face the Nation on February 22, “Already this calendar year, since January 1, we have had more than 20,000 people come across the border, apprehended, unauthorized.”

Mr. Abbott also stated, “We all saw what happened on the Texas border last summer, but we need to understand that the problem is not going away.”

The governor is trying to secure the border by adding “more than 500 Department of Public Safety officers, more Texas Rangers, more technology.” Since the federal government has failed to secure the border with Mexico, the burden has fallen on the states.

But ultimately, as long as illegals feel that the welcome mat is out, they will continue to migrate from poorer countries.

Dozens of cities across America have embraced President Barack Obama’s amnesty program by organizing welcoming committees to help illegals adjust to life in the United States. The cities are working with a group called “Welcoming America” that helps illegals find employment and housing while “helping people who were born in this country understand and appreciate their new neighbors.”

“There is a movement sweeping the nation: Whole communities are coming together to create welcoming environments in which immigrant and long-term residents alike can thrive and prosper,” says the organization. Some of these welcoming cities include Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. Conspicuously absent from the list are cities in border states that are most directly impacted by illegal immigration.

In the September 2014 Trumpet issue, Stephen Flurry wrote, “The flood of illegal immigrants highlights a fundamental disregard for law. It exposes and exacerbates the loss of a common culture. America’s inability to protect its borders shows that the very things that define the United States as a nation are being chipped away.”

To learn more about the repercussions of illegal immigration, read Stephen Flurry’s article “Borderline Breakdown.”