As the standoff continues over razor wire fencing placed on Texas’ southern border, Democrats are calling on President Joe Biden to take control of the National Guard.
Currently, as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star initiative, Texas National Guard and the Department of Public Safety have placed concertina wire and other barriers along the Rio Grande in an effort to deter illegal crossings.
After the Biden administration ordered Border Patrol personnel last year to cut down the barriers to allow illegal aliens to pass through, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals placed an injunction preventing them from doing so. This week, however, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted that injunction, allowing the destruction of the barriers to resume.
Thus far, however, Texas has held the line, preventing federal agents from entering Shelby Park—a hotspot of crossings in Eagle Pass—and placing more wire in recent days.
Some Texas Democrats are now calling on Biden to federalize the National Guard.
“Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border,” Democrat U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro wrote in a post on X Tuesday. “If Abbott is defying yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, [President Biden] needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now.”
His comments were echoed by former congressman and failed senatorial/presidential/gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, who compared the situation to the 1957 integration at Little Rock Central High School.
“Abbott is using the Texas Guard to defy a Supreme Court ruling. When Gov. Faubus did this in 1957, Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Guard to ensure compliance with the law. Biden must follow this example of bold, decisive leadership to end this crisis before it gets worse,” wrote O’Rourke.
Abbott, meanwhile, has said he will use the state’s constitutional power to push back against the invasion at the border.
Attorney General Ken Paxton said he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Abbott.
“As your Attorney General, I stand ready to bringing any legal means necessary to defend Texas. We will push back against this out of control Federal Government to defend our state sovereignty,” said Paxton.
