Texas ready for 'Boneheaded' Biden border move: Greg Abbott
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On January 23, the Supreme Court ordered that federal border officials could begin cutting the razor wire placed as part of Abbott's Operation Lone Star.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin Texas on June 8, 2021 (AP)
According to Newsweek, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has stated that President Joe Biden's federalization of the National Guard would be a complete disaster.
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.
On January 23, the Supreme Court ordered that federal border officials could begin cutting the razor wire placed at the US border as part of Abbott's Operation Lone Star.
Abbott revealed on X that the Texas National Guard ignored the ruling.
Texas will continue to exercise its right to secure our southern border.
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) January 26, 2024
We will continue to hold the line against the Biden Administration’s border crisis.
Read this week’s #OperationLoneStar update below:https://t.co/46n0kNjOlg
Abbott told Tucker Carlson on his uncensored show that federalizing the National Guard would be "boneheaded."
The Biden administration claims that wire inhibits officials from obtaining access to critical portions of the border.
Former Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke and Democratic Texas Representative Joaquin Castro have called on Biden to federalize the National Guard.
Greg Abbott has made the very real challenges at our border much worse.
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) January 26, 2024
Here’s how:
Abbott criticized the White House's immigration policy, claiming that "Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants." The governor also stated that he has the authority to safeguard the state against invasion.
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.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has denied the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) full access in a public letter, after the DHS's own communication to Texas authorities on January 24, the day after the Supreme Court verdict.
The Department of Homeland Security wants full access to the border and Shelby Park in Eagle Pass by January 26, according to CNN.
Paxton vowed to continue to "defend Texas's efforts to protect its southern border against every effort by the Biden Administration to undermine the State's constitutional right of self-defense."
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.
