South Carolina attorney general’s southern border trip cost public nearly $3K

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office paid nearly $3,000 for his first trip to the southern border earlier this week, a spokesman told News13.

Wilson spent one night at a private residence along with a senior advisor, stopping in El Paso, Texas on Tuesday.

Wilson said in a news release he was briefed by Texas Department of Public Safety officials “about the many issues there that affect South Carolina,” and joined by attorneys general Chris Carr of Georgia and Jason Miyares of Virginia.

Last year, 3.3% of South Carolina’s crimes were immigration-related, compared to 30% nationally, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission figures .

Wilson spokesman Robert Kittle told News13 the attorney general met with Texas Border Czar Mike Banks and officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

“Illegal drugs from Mexican cartels come up through the southern border and end up in SC every day,” Kittle said. “He was also briefed and given updated information on human trafficking and how our current border policies have lent themselves to increases in human trafficking.”

Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Joint Task Force Alpha — created specifically to human trafficking and smuggling from Central American nations and Mexico — have made more than 300 arrests yielding roughly 240 convictions.

Wilson’s efforts at strengthening South Carolina’s illegal immigration laws and policies have been hallmark of his administration. Last month he joined a federal suit looking to block taxpayer-funded healthcare services for children brought into the nation by non-citizens.

Kittle said the State Grand Jury has taken on nine recent cases involving 527 defendants, some of whom are undocumented immigrants.

Examples include:

• “Devil in Disguise:” An investigation centered on fentanyl and methamphetamine that’s resulted in 90 defendants
• “Las Señoritas:” An investigation primarily involving methamphetamine that’s resulted in 54 defendants
• “Triple Crown:” An investigation primarily involving cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl that’s resulted in 63 defendants
• “Los Banditos:” An investigation involving methamphetamine resulting in 44 defendants including undocumented immigrants
• “Rocket Fuel:” An investigation involving methamphetamine resulting in 35 defendants
• “Groundhog Day:” An investigation centered on methamphetamine resulting in 39 defendants
• “Prison Empire:” An investigation involving methamphetamine resulting in 100 defendants including undocumented immigrants
• “Polar Express:” An investigation involving methamphetamine resulting in 56 defendants including undocumented immigrants
• “Graceland:” An investigation primarily involving methamphetamine resulting in 46 defendants

In a statement, Kittle said Wilson had no faith in a high-profile bipartisan border security bill that was derailed earlier in the year.

“It did a great job of throwing large amount of money at the symptoms of the crisis while ignoring the root causes of the crisis,” Wilson’s office said. “It did a great job of funding the pipeline for processing illegals into the interior but did very little to disincentivize the illegal border crossings to begin with.”

Kittle told News13 Wilson has no plans for a return trip to the border.

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