Lauren Moye, FISM News
The White House claims the Texas governor is causing “chaos and confusion” at the Mexico-U.S. border, rather than blaming an unprecedented wave of illegal immigrants.
Yesterday, Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order that empowered the National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to apprehend illegal immigrants for a return to the border. Days before, multiple Texas counties along the southern border declared they were overrun by an “invasion” of immigrants and needed state resources to provide relief for their citizens.
However, the Biden Administration has pushed back against Abbott’s order. At yesterday’s press briefing, top public-facing official Karinne Jean-Pierre said states should not be “mandating” or “meddling” in immigration enforcement. She called out the Texas governor directly, saying that Abbott has “a track record of causing chaos and confusion at the border.”
When asked if the Biden administration was considering legal action against the executive order, Jean-Pierre said she “would refer you to the [the Department of Justice] for any legal matter. But, again, immigration enforcement is a federal authority.”
In his announcement yesterday, Abbott acknowledged that Texas does not have the authority to prosecute or enforce federal immigration statutes. Instead, apprehended individuals are to be returned to the border but not taken back into Mexico.
Abbott promised residents of the Lone Star State, “Texas will continue to take action to address those challenges caused by the Biden Administration.”
Earlier this week, judges, sheriffs, and other local officials from multiple Texas counties gathered together to discuss safety concerns regarding record surges in border crossings. The counties called it an “invasion” and formally petitioned the governor for state resources to counter the illegal immigrants overrunning their counties.
One county judge described it as “carnage,” and not just for Texans. Goliad County Judge Mike Bennett said, “It’s a situation where many [immigrants] are dying along the way.”
Safety concerns discussed by both the local officials and Abbott include fentanyl, cartel members, and human trafficking.
Abbott has claimed there were 5,000 migrant apprehensions in Texas just over Independence Day weekend. Numbers for border encounters have been high all year but set a new record in May when patrol agents experienced over 239,000 migrant encounters for the month.