As the standoff continues between the Biden administration and the state of Texas over the crisis at the southern border, Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas will continue to push back against the invasion.
At the center of the current controversy is a recent U.S. Supreme Court order that allows federal agents to remove concertina wire and other barriers placed along the Rio Grande by the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Ground Zero of that battle is Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, where state forces have taken over a park along the border and have thus far prevented federal officials from entering.
Abbott says the state is taking action because of a failure from the Biden administration.
“The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. 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 refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them,” said Abbott. “The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration. Despite having been put on notice in a series of letters—one of which I delivered to him by hand—President Biden has ignored Texas’s demand that he perform his constitutional duties.”
He went on to say the U.S. Constitution allows for states to push back against invasions:
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border. That is why the Framers included both Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.”
To that end, Abbott cited an executive order issued by him in November 2022 to “invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.”
While Abbott has been criticized for failing to fully act on that executive order and remove illegal aliens, increased action in recent months and defiance of the federal government has drawn praise.
In fact, as observers waited for federal Border Patrol agents to cut down wire fences after the Supreme Court order was issued, the state erected additional concertina wire barriers.
“Great to see Greg Abbott not backing down,” Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi wrote in a post on X.
Others say more needs to be done.
“Adding barriers, wall, wire, etc., is a start. But no wall will ever stop the invasion of our borders if the invaders do not know that they can NOT get in,” wrote Ken Cuccinelli, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. “Greg Abbott needs to return the invaders back across the border. And no, don’t ask Mexico’s permission, just do it.”
