Greg Abbott: ‘We must band together to combat President Biden’s ongoing border crisis”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent an SOS to his fellow 49 governors Tuesday asking for help to secure the state’s 1,254-mile-border with Mexico.
Abbott sent a letter to every governor of every U.S. state asking for their help after the public health authority Title 42 ended on May 12 and roughly 150,000 people are estimated to be congregated on the Mexican side approaching to enter the U.S. illegally.
Groups of tens of thousands have already arrived in the Rio Grande Valley and other areas of Texas, overwhelming Border Patrol agents. Gov. Abbott already has sent more than 10,000 Texas National Guard troops as border communities continue to declare emergencies.
The call for help comes after at least 125 known, suspected terrorists have been apprehended illegally entering the southern border this fiscal year and as the former ICE chief argues Biden administration policies are the greatest national security threat since 9/11.
While the Biden administration has sent 1,500 military personnel to help Border Patrol agents process illegal foreign nationals into the U.S., they aren’t acting in a law enforcement capacity.
“Since taking office, President Biden has willfully refused to enforce our nation’s immigration laws while systematically dismantling every effective border security policy that previously led to the lowest number of illegal border crossings in decades,” Abbott wrote the governors. “The resultant surge in illegal immigration and transnational criminal activity is a direct consequence of these misguided actions.
“The flood of illegal border activity invited by the Biden Administration flows directly across the southern border into Texas communities, but this crisis does not stop in our state,” Abbott wrote. “Emboldened Mexican drug cartels and other transnational criminal enterprises profit off this chaos, smuggling people and dangerous drugs like fentanyl into communities nationwide.
“In the federal government’s absence, we, as Governors, must band together to combat President Biden’s ongoing border crisis and ensure the safety and security that all Americans deserve.”
Referring to an Emergency Management Assistance Compact, he said the states are empowered to provide assistance to each other “in times of disaster or emergency, both of which accurately describe the current border crisis.