(RepublicanJournal.org) – The Biden administration’s failure to control our southern border isn’t popular in Texas, and the state has increasingly started to go its own way in its efforts to slow the flood of illegal migrants crossing from Mexico. That’s brought it into conflict with the administration, which seems as reluctant to let anyone else deal with the problem as it is to tackle it itself. Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) isn’t backing down, though.
Supreme Court Slams Texas; Texas Pushes Back
On January 22, the US Supreme Court upheld an appeal by the Biden administration against a decision in favor of Texas by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The lower court had banned federal agents from cutting or removing the razor wire barriers the Texas Army National Guard started placing at illegal migration hotspots along the border in January 2023. The administration argued that the wire was preventing Border Patrol agents from aiding migrants who got into trouble. In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court sided with the White House and stayed the Fifth Circuit’s injunction.
The day after the judgment Governor Abbott hit back at the administration. In an official statement he said the president “has refused to enforce [immigration] laws and has even violated them.” He also repeated a declaration he made last September, when he invoked Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the US Constitution, declaring that Texas was being invaded by the Mexican drug cartels. The notoriously violent drug gangs are also heavily involved in people trafficking across the US border.
Biden Resents State’s Independence
The administration’s main complaint with Texas’s anti-migrant programs is that border control is constitutionally the federal government’s job. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the governor’s actions are interfering with the government’s authority to control immigration.
Abbott has pushed back, claiming the Biden administration “has broken the compact between the United States and the states” and neglected its own constitutional responsibility to enforce federal laws. Instead, he says, it’s refusing to enforce them — but at the same time jealously guarding the right to. According to Abbott, the state’s right to self-defense supersedes federal law (although that claim has never been tested in a courtroom) and he’s acting on that authority to protect Texas against invasion.
So far, despite the Supreme Court ruling, there’s no sign of Abbott backing down. Following the decision, but before he released his statement in response, he posted a video showing National Guardsmen stringing razor wire on the border. The clear implication is that he isn’t going to stop building anti-migrant barriers, whatever the administration says.
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