AUSTIN, Texas (KIAH) – Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday the new position of Texas Border Czar to oversee border security at a press conference on a Texas border wall construction site in San Benito.

Mike Banks has been hired as Special Advisor on Border Matters to the Governor and will serve as the State of Texas’ first-ever Border Czar. 

“To continue doing what no other state in the history of our country has done to secure the border, I hired Mike Banks as the State of Texas’ first-ever Border Czar.”, Governor Abbott said. Banks is a former Border Patrol Agent.

Border Czar Banks will report directly to Abbott. He will collaborate daily with TMD, DPS, and other state agencies, local officials along with Texas landowners along the border. He will be based out of Weslaco.