Gov. Abbott Goes Public After Biden Asks Texas for Help with 'Illegal' Program
President Joe Biden has never been shy about the fact that he would be soft on the issue of border security, but in the first two months of his administration, the border situation is more of a disaster than anticipated.
According to Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, exemplifying this disaster is how Biden handles the intersection between border security and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, Abbott accused the Biden administration of releasing undocumented immigrants into Texas (and all over the country) without adequate supervision or monitoring.
“The Biden administration has been releasing immigrants in South Texas that have been exposing Texans to COVID. Some of those people have been put on buses, taking that Covid to other states in the United States,” Abbott told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.
“The Biden administration must stop importing COVID into our country. That is Neanderthal-type approach to dealing with the Covid situation.”
Thankfully for the state and the country, Abbott isn’t planning on rolling over and accepting the Biden administration’s policies.
“The unconscionable act by the Biden Administration of releasing COVID positive illegal immigrants in our state puts the lives of Texans and Americans at risk,” Abbott said in a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday.
“Border security is strictly a federal responsibility. The federal government alone has the responsibility to test, screen and quarantine illegal immigrants crossing our border who may have COVID,” he said.
“Instead of doing their job, the Biden Administration suggested it did not have the sufficient resources and, remarkably, asked Texas to assist them in their illegal immigration program.
“Texas refused. We will not let our state aid a program that makes our country a magnet for illegal immigration.”
My statement about the Biden administration assimilating Covid positive illegal immigrants in states across the country pic.twitter.com/PqImAihYkp
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 4, 2021
The White House responded to Abbott’s comments on Thursday.
“Our policy is is to have that [testing] be done, concluded before they are even moved to go stay with family members or others they may know while their cases are being adjudicated,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, according to KWTX-TV.
On Twitter Saturday, Abbott announced the launch of Operation Lone Star, which “deploys Nat’l Guard + DPS Officers + air, ground, marine, & tactical border security assets to deny Mexican Cartels & smugglers the ability to move drugs & people into Texas.”
Today Texas launched Operation Lone Star to respond to the border crisis.
It deploys Nat’l Guard + DPS Officers + air, ground, marine, & tactical border security assets to deny Mexican Cartels & smugglers the ability to move drugs & people into Texas.https://t.co/r68J2laDpH
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 7, 2021
Over the next several days, Abbott buttressed Operation Lone Star with more tweets that both previewed new policies for securing the border and further criticized the Biden administration.
The Biden Admin. has created a disaster on the border.
Record 3,200 migrant children stuck in Border Patrol custody + many who are not children.
The federal government must fix this immediately.
I’ll be there with Texas solutions today. https://t.co/fNjK3KwGJj
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 9, 2021
Today I met with Border Patrol Officers
Last year they apprehended about 90,000 people crossing the border illegally in the RGV.
This year that number already exceed 100,000.
I deployed @TexasGuard & DPS to crack down on cartels & human smuggling.https://t.co/lxpnjsZYAW
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 10, 2021
More striking is that multiple Texas Democrats have also expressed skepticism regarding Biden’s policy paradigm on border security.
“The way we’re doing it right now is catastrophic and is a recipe for disaster in the middle of a pandemic,” Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat who represents a border district in Texas, told Politico in February.
“Our party should be concerned. If we go off the rails, it’s going to be bad for us … Biden is going to be dealing with a minority in Congress if he continues down some of these paths.”
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a longtime Democratic congressman from the border city of Laredo, Texas, agreed with Gonzalez.
“I said, ‘Hey, we don’t want the wall, but when it comes to the other issues, we gotta be careful that we don’t give the impression that we have open borders because otherwise the numbers are going to start going up. And surely enough, we’re starting to see numbers go up,” Cuellar explained.
Evidently, there is growing bipartisan resistance to Biden’s policies — policies that are based on virtue-signaling rather than any form of prudent governance.
If Biden is smart, he will ignore the complaints from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and work with Abbott to find a responsible solution.
But Elon Musk will have founded a colony on Mars by the time that happens.
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