Republican governors rally behind Texas in showdown against Biden
3 Min Read
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has initiated a legal dispute with federal agencies, engaging in a contentious legal battle over his controversial immigration policies.
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A guardsman keeps watch over a section of the Rio Grande that is fortified with concertina wires and large buoys used a floating border barrier on the Rio Grande, on August 1, 2023. (AP)
A substantial coalition of Republican governors has released a collective statement expressing "unity" with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and his heightened border security measures. They accuse the White House of leaving the nation "entirely exposed" in the face of a surge in illegal migrant arrivals.
On Thursday, an open letter was published, signed by 25 Republican governors nationwide. The sole GOP governor not to sign the message was Vermont Governor Phil Scott.
The state leaders strongly criticized President Joe Biden, stressing that he had “attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”
“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border,” the letter read.
“We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally,” it added.
The big picture
Abbott has been involved in a prolonged legal dispute with the Biden Justice Department regarding Texas' initiatives to "curb illegal immigration" into the United States. The tensions escalated with a recent Supreme Court decision permitting federal Border Patrol agents to dismantle razor wire installed along the US-Mexico border by Texas authorities. In response to the ruling, Abbott asserted that Biden had "refused to enforce [immigration] laws and has even violated them.”
Back in September 2023, the Texas governor compared the unprecedented levels of migration to an "invasion" and cited constitutional powers for a state to protect itself against foreign intrusions.
The confrontation with federal agencies reached a critical point earlier this month when Texas deployed state National Guard troops to obstruct federal Border Patrol agents from accessing a 2.5-mile section along the border with Mexico. After this incident, the matter was presented to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in favor of the federal government.
News published in December reported that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated there were 233,740 interactions between migrants and border guards in November, marking the highest ever documented for that month.
Under Operation Lone Star, Abbott has aimed to construct barriers along the border and has detained nearly 500,000 illegal immigrants. Texas has additionally transported over 97,000 immigrants, whom federal authorities had permitted into the country, to Democrat-led jurisdictions such as New York City, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.
Read next: Mexico accuses Texas governor of 'promoting' attacks on migrants
