AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) decision to lock down the border in the town of Eagle Pass has infuriated Democrats but drawn praise from Republicans, including federal agents.
The governor’s office has defended the move as the state “holding the line” absent federal action to curb illegal immigration into an area that has become the epicenter for border crossings under President Joe Biden.
“Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden’s reckless open border policies,” said Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze in a statement Friday. “Instead of enforcing federal immigration laws, the Biden Administration allows unfettered access for Mexican cartels to smuggle people into our country. Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden’s ongoing border crisis.”
A spokesperson for House Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy (R-TX) said the central Texas lawmaker strongly backed Abbott.
“Gov. Abbott has Rep. Roy’s full support to go as far as necessary within his constitutional powers to secure Texas’ border preventing large numbers of illegal aliens from entering is ACTUAL security instead of the Biden administration releasing them into the country,” Roy’s press team wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents federal agents, also backed Abbott’s move.
“Shout out to Governor Abbott for enhancing Border Patrol operations!” the Border Patrol union said in a statement. “By taking control of an area where so many illegal aliens are simply surrendering, he’s freeing up BP agents to patrol areas with high numbers of illegal aliens who attempt to escape arrest.”
Meanwhile, another San Antonio-area lawmaker, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), criticized Abbott for not letting Border Patrol agents apprehend and process illegal immigrants at the border.
“This is unprecedented interference by a governor and state government in federal immigration enforcement,” Castro wrote in a statement. “Governor Abbott is interfering with Border Patrol’s ability to do its job and his actions are making the situation at the border worse.”
Other Texas Democrats lambasted the third-term governor. Former El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke has spoken out each time Abbott has gone on the offensive at the border and took to X to call out his latest move.
“The President must take control or this crisis will get worse. Abbott has already illegally deployed drowning devices & DPS has been ordered to push women, babies into the river,” O’Rourke said. “Yesterday he said he wants to shoot migrants. Now he’s stopping Border Patrol from doing its job.”
Abbott said in a radio interview with conservative commentator Dana Loesch on Thursday that the “only thing we’re not doing is shooting people” who come over the border because “the Biden administration would charge us with murder.”
Democratic consultant and strategist Sawyer Hackett said in the end, using more military and state police will only lead to greater costs on Texas taxpayers and hurt operations at the border.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The DOJ has filed a new complaint in the Texas case—arguing that armed officials, at the direction of Greg Abbott, have physically blocked border patrol from doing their jobs at the border,” Hackett wrote in a statement. “Greg Abbott spending billions of taxpayer money to *weaken* border security.”
Texas moved in late Wednesday and Thursday to Eagle Pass and sealed off city parkland and a city-owned golf course from federal employees, including law enforcement. Eagle Pass leaders described it as an unforeseen “takeover” of city land to fence out federal law enforcement from the international boundary, where state personnel are turning back illegal immigrants.
