Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton held a press conference in Mission on Wednesday after meeting with law enforcement officials over the increase of migrants crossing the southern border.

Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon, Refugio County Sheriff Raul ‘Pinky’ Gonzalez, and Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback also attended the event.

Sheriffs from the Rio Grande Valley were not present at the press conference.

Both Hidalgo and Cameron County sheriffs said they were not invited to speak about or if their deputies are being affected by the increase of immigrants. However, the neighboring county sheriffs said the effect in their areas is overwhelming.

“Each call slip requires us to work from 8 to 12 hours on one case, on one case,” Gonzalez said. “Depleting our resources. We’re a rural town, we’re got a limited budget and we’re just overwhelmed by this.”

Despite having a population double the size of Refugio County, Sheriff Harmon said the situation in Lavaca County is similar; he said bailouts and pursuits are becoming the norm.

“[A] vehicle crashed into a tree. It caught on fire, it had approximately 18 [or] 20 individuals in the pickup,” Harmon said. “There [were] numerous injuries, and that deplete all our resources.”

Harmon said similar incidents cause his counties to deploy most, if not all, emergency units, leaving none available to respond to other emergencies.

Paxton was in McAllen on Tuesday and met with border-area sheriffs and police chiefs, and officials with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Paxton told Fox Business Wednesday morning that he was not allowed to tour the Donna detention facility. 

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