Amid the dispute between Texas and the federal government over makeshift barriers along the Rio Grande, presidential front-runner Donald Trump is urging “all willing” governors to deploy their state's National Guard.
The former president's comments on Truth Social came the day after the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that allows federal officers to remove razor wire placed by Texas along the southern border.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) responded to the court's ruling, stating that the Biden administration had failed to defend our national sovereignty.
“Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border,” Abbott's statement read.
It continued: “By wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas' border security infrastructure, President Biden has enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along this State's southern border – bridges where nobody drowns – and into the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande.”
Trump said that he would work “hand in hand” with Abbot.
Fox News has more on the escalating standoff:
In posts to Truth Social, Trump backed Abbott and accused President Biden of “fighting to tie the hands” of the Republican governor “so that the Invasion continues unchecked.”
A feud that has been bubbling for months between Texas and the administration exploded in recent weeks after Texas seized the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass and blocked Border Patrol from entering – sparking protests and threats of legal action from the administration.
The Supreme Court this week found in the administration's favor when it granted an emergency appeal to allow agents to keep cutting border wire set up by Texas along the border, after a lower court had blocked the administration from doing so.
The two sides have been feuding since 2021 when the migrant crisis escalated and Texas launched Operation Lone Star to surge resources to the border. The administration recently sued over an anti-illegal immigration law that allows state and local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants. It has also sued over the state's setting up of buoys in the Rio Grande. The administration says immigration enforcement is up to the federal government and Texas is interfering.
“Whether it is leaving migrants on the side of the road in the dead of winter, installing razor wire to make Border Patrol's job more dangerous, promoting extreme and unconstitutional laws like S.B. 4, or his latest actions in Eagle Pass, Governor Abbott has repeatedly proven that he is not interested in solutions and only seeks to politicize the border,” a White House spokesperson stated recently.
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