Governor Greg Abbott is fed up with what the Biden administration has done to the border and will announce a plan next week to build a border wall along the Texas border:
DC EXAMINER – Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he will soon reveal a plan to construct a wall along Texas’s border with Mexico.
Abbott made the announcement to law enforcement officers, county judges, and mayors during a “border security summit” in the border city of Del Rio on Thursday.
“I will announce next week the plan for the state of Texas to begin building the border wall in the state of Texas,” Abbott said.
“The border crisis is no laughing matter,” he said. “It’s not a tourism site for members of Congress to visit and then return to D.C. and do nothing.”
Abbott insisted “change is needed” as border towns in his state struggle with the effects of migrants flooding into the country.
“One thing we know and that is a border crisis is plaguing the farmers, the ranchers, the residents of the entire border region,” Abbott said, detailing a burden local police have been experiencing.
“Your law enforcement officers, they are having to redirect their resources to deal with the border as opposed to deal what they normally deal with which is keeping your communities safe every day,” he said.
Abbott slammed the Biden administration’s “open border policies” for the surge in migration, citing data that showed record year-over-year increases in illegal border crossing attempts. In particular, he blamed the administration’s rescission of the “remain in Mexico” policy instituted by the Trump administration. He also blamed the increase in illegal migration on “a difference in commitment” between the current and most recent administrations.
“Now, the commitment is anybody who wants to come in is going to be allowed to come in,” Abbott said, repeating, “A change is needed.”
Border officials stopped 180,034 people trying to enter the country illegally in May, which was up from 178,622 attempts in April and is the highest number in more than two decades.
I absolutely love this, but I’m sure whatever he announces will be quickly challenged in the courts.
Just to be clear, this is different from what Arizona tried to do in the Obama years. They wanted to enforce immigration law and lost in the courts. As far as I know, Abbott simply wants to build at the border. Whether or not it would fill gaps in the Trump wall or whether it would be a totally different wall some distance away from that, I’m not sure. But what I do know is that it is necessary and whether he fails or not, I’m glad Abbott is giving it a go.
UPDATE: Here’s a 35 minute video if you want to watch to hear everything Abbott said: