In a bold stand against the Biden Administration border policy, governors of 25 states signed a letter in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
The letter was also signed by Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox. He and the 24 other governors stood in defense of Governor Abbott in the fight with the Biden Administration over the razor wire that Governor Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to place along the Rio Grande River to stop migrants from crossing into Texas.
The letter reads: “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. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing a mass parade across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.”
The letter was signed at the Republican Governors Association meeting January 25, 2024.
Writing in The Hill, Liz Peek pointed out that an estimated eight million migrants have crossed the southern border since Joe Biden took office (PolitiFact clarifies that at least 2.5 million of these migrants were expelled). By comparison, U.S. Customs and Border Protection logged 1.95 million encounters during the four years Donald Trump was president.
Now, Texas has declared that it has the right to self-defense against what it calls a migrant “invasion.”
On January 22, a narrowly-divided Supreme Court sided with the Biden Administration in allowing federal border agents to keep cutting the wire set up by Texas after a lower court had blocked such moves.
Texas has continued to fortify the border and has also indicated it will not comply with the Administration’s demands to vacate the Shelby Park area where many of the migrants are camped. “[President Biden’s] actions have caused an unprecedented invasion that we must defend against,” Abbott said last week.
The Biden Administration has accused Texas of interfering with the federal enforcement of immigration law. “Enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “Rather than helping to reduce irregular migration, the State of Texas has only made it harder for frontline personnel to do their jobs and apply consequences under the law. We can enforce our laws and administer them safely, humanely, and in an orderly way.”
Governor Abbott disagreed with Biden and ordered C-wire installed along the river. Although Abbott has issues with how the Administration is handling the crisis, the relationship between Texas and Border Patrol officials on the ground is “strong.”
“While this issue plays out in the courts, the relationship between Border Patrol, Texas DPS (Department of Public Safety), And TMD (Texas Military Department) remains strong,” an official of DPS told Fox News. “Our focus is and will always be the mission of protecting this country and its people. On the ground, we continue to work alongside these valuable partners in that endeavor.”
As it stands, Border Patrol has no plans to remove infrastructure (C-Wire) placed by Texas along the border. “Our posture remains the same. If we need to access an area for emergency response, we will do so. When that happens, we will coordinate with Texas DPS and TMD.”
The same sentiment was echoed by the Border Patrol Union, which issued a lengthy statement dismissing the idea that Border Patrol agents would start arresting Texas National Guard Members who were placing C-Wire along the border.
The National Border Patrol Council took to X (formerly Twitter) to say, “TX National Guard and rank-and-file BP agents work together and respect each other’s jobs. Period. If TX NG members have Lawful orders, then they have to carry out those Orders.”
“Rank and file BP agents appreciate and respect what TX has been doing to defend their state in the midst of this catastrophe that the Biden Admin has unleashed on America. We want to be perfectly clear, there is no fight between rank-and-file BP agents and the TX NG, Gov. Abbott or TX DPS. It may make flashy headlines, but it simply isn’t true.”
Rank-and file BP agents are not going to start arresting TX NG members for following their LAWFUL orders. That's fake news.
— Border Patrol Union – NBPC (@BPUnion) January 26, 2024
TX NG and rank-and-file BP agents work together and respect each other's jobs. Period. If TX NG members have LAWFUL orders, then they have to carry out…
It was also reported that a mother and her two children drowned because they were caught in the razor wire, but that original narrative has now been disputed, as reported in The Hill. The Texas National Guard has saved dozens of people trying to cross the river.
The Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton promised that the fight is not over. Paxton said in a statement, ”The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America. This fight is not over and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
CNN has reported that since April, 2022, Governor Abbott has bussed over 90,000 immigrants to so-called “sanctuary cities” such as New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, which has proved an effective strategy in calling attention to the issue.
President Biden vowed that he would use expanded authority and shut down the southern border only if Congress would pass a bipartisan deal that ties immigration security measures to funding for Ukraine and Israel aid.
The text of the bill has not yet been released (as of press time) causing some pundits to fear what it actually says. Some language which has been leaked has indicated that the bill, which would set thresholds of daily illegal border crossings, would still allow thousands of migrants to cross the border daily.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the deal is “dead on arrival.”
– The Byway
Feature image caption: Razor and concertina wire is installed along the bank of the Rio Grande on the southern border of Texas with Mexico, at Shelby Park, Eagle Pass. Courtesy of Reuters.