Texas border standoff with Biden administration widens

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Jan 2024 06:23
1 Shares

The Texas Governor stresses the state's constitutional right to defend and protect itself in light of the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border.

National Guard soldiers are posted at the entrance to Shelby Park on January 26, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Friday that the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard continue to work together to secure the border, amid a standoff with President Joe Biden's administration over its open-border policy.

On Monday, the US Supreme Court issued a temporary order to allow federal Border Patrol agents to remove the barriers placed by Texas.

Abbott said in a statement published on Texas' website that the state continues to "stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal activity between ports of entry."

On Wednesday, the Texas Governor stressed in a statement the state's constitutional right to defend and protect itself in light of what he considered the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border.

Abbott argued that "the Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now."

"President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense." the statement read.

He continued, "For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary."

Texas in 'uncharted territory' with Biden Admin. border standoff: State Attorney General

The state of Texas’ dispute with the Biden administration over the placement of razor wire barriers at the United States’ border with Mexico has brought the state into uncharted political territory, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

"I don’t think anybody knows exactly what happens. We’re in uncharted territory," Paxton indicated on Friday when asked how the standoff with the federal government might unfold.

The Biden administration is ignoring federal law and participating with criminal cartels to bring migrants into the country, he said.

Paxton and Texas Governor Greg Abbott insist that the state has the constitutional right to defend its border, due to the Biden administration’s failure to address the illegal flow of migrants into the United States from Mexico.

More than two dozen Republican governors issued a joint statement backing Abbott in his dispute with the Biden administration. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also said he supports sending the Florida National Guard and State Guard to assist Texan authorities at the border.

Trump says encourages willing states to deploy troops to Texas to protect US Border

In a related context, former US President Donald Trump considered that all willing state governments in the United States ought to deploy their National Guard forces to Texas to help defend the southern US border from illegal immigration.

"In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion," Trump said on Thursday in a statement via his social media platform Truth Social.

"We encourage all willing States to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of Illegals, and to remove them back across the Border."

Trump said that if elected president in 2024, he would work with Texas and other border states to stop the illegal flow of migrants into the US.

He considered that US President Joe Biden is aiding and abetting an invasion of the US by millions of illegal migrants.

Earlier on Thursday, independent US presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr. said in a statement on X that he also supports Texas and would work to secure the border if elected to be the next president.