(Daily Mail) Over half of America’s governors are backing Texas‘ Greg Abbott in his bitter standoff with President Joe Biden over who should have the authority to apprehend migrants at the border.
Meanwhile Texas Border Czar Mike Banks told ranchers Wednesday the state could install razor wire on their private property free of charge, the state official told a packed room of ranchers who met just outside of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Abbott said the federal government failed at its duty to enforce laws and states had every right to step in to protect their borders.
While Democrats have blasted Abbott, Republican governors from 25 states – every GOP governor except Vermont‘s Phil Scott, who voted for Biden in 2020 – signed a letter in support of ‘Texas’ constitutional right to self-defense’.
Over half of America’s governors are backing Texas’ Greg Abbott in his bitter standoff with President Joe Biden over who should have the authority to apprehend migrants at the border
‘Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has 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,’ it continued.
‘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 mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.’
They believe that because the Biden administration has ‘abdicated’ its duty under the Constitution to defend the border, Texas must act.
The signatories included several high profile Republican governors, including former presidential candidates Ron DeSantis of Florida and North Dakota’s Doug Burgum, as well as South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, Arkansas‘ Sarah Sanders.
Four governors – Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Joe Lombardo of Nevada, New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu and Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin – represent states Biden won in the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, Texas Border Czar Mike Banks told ranchers Wednesday the state could install razor wire on their private property free of charge, the state official told a packed room of ranchers who met just outside of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Abbott blasted Biden again for his dereliction of duty at the border on Thursday.
Abbott reasserted the state’s right to protect its own border after the Supreme Court ruled the Biden administration could take down razor wire Texas had installed along high-traffic areas of the border
The signatories included several high profile Republican governors, including former presidential candidate Ron DeSantis of Florida
Texas Border Czar Mike Banks (center, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott) told ranchers they could have razor wire installed on their properties free of charge
Texas placed razor wire at Shelby Park in the migrant hot spot of Eagle Pass, Texas for more than a year
‘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,’ Abbott said. ‘President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them.’
The governor is engaged in multiple legal disputes with the Biden administration over its seizure of a section of the U.S. border in Eagle Pass, Texas. This week the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could tear down razor wire that Abbott had installed along the border in Eagle Pass.
Texas officials, however, said the ruling only narrowly applies to the wire and does not settle the escalating standoff over whether the state or federal government has authority to secure the border in the hot spot of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Abbott also installed floating barriers in the Rio Grande, which later failed a legal battle and were removed, and recently signed a new law allowing state law enforcement to arrest and immediately deport migrants.
Under Abbott’s orders Texas soldiers fenced off Shelby Park January 10 with razor wire and other fencing, even though the land is owned by the City of Eagle Pass.
Abbott claimed the move was meant to stop the historic number of illegal immigrant entries at Shelby Park in recent weeks.
In the week before Christmas, more than 22,000 asylum-seeking migrants crossed the river separating the US from Mexico and into Shelby Park to get inside Eagle Pass, that only has a population of 28,000.
