Governor Greg Abbott accused Biden of being a ‘lawless president’ and invoked Texas’ right to defend itself against an ‘invasion’ on the southern border.
On Wednesday afternoon, Abbott released an excoriating statement that claimed ‘President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress’.
He added that he would use the ‘right of self-defense’ to protect Texas from what he termed an ‘invasion’ of migrants on the southern border.
It is the latest escalation in a worsening row between the Texas governor and the president.
Texas has borne the brunt of immigration and contains one of the busiest crossing points in the country at Eagle Pass – which saw 22,000 people enter in one week before Christmas.
Abbott has thrown down the gauntlet to president Biden and called him a ‘lawless president’
In a long statement shared on Wednesday, Abbott claimed he was invoking Texas’ ‘right to self-defense’
In Wednesday’s statement, Abbott said: ‘The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now.
‘President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress.
He went on to claim that Biden had ‘instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants’.
He also accused him of wasting taxpayer money and allowing migrants an ‘en masse parole’ into the US.
He added: ‘James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border.
‘That is why the Framers included both Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government ‘shall protect each [State] against invasion,’ and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges ‘the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.’
He ended saying that failures by the Biden administration meant he was going to ‘invoke Texas’ constitutional authority to defend and protect itself’.
Texas has borne the brunt of incoming migration over the past year
Governor Abbott has repeatedly slammed Biden for his handling of immigration
He ended: ‘That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.
‘The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.’
It was not immediately clear what steps Abbott would be taking in ‘self-defense’ but this week saw Texas officials start to arrest migrants in Eagle Pass before they had had a chance to surrender to US immigration agents.
The arrests were the first of their kind. Usually, migrants – even those who enter the US illegally – are allowed to surrender to US Border Patrol agents to seek asylum.
It also follows the Biden administration on Tuesday demanding that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton allow federal agents to access Shelby Park in Eagle Pass where state law enforcement officers have been arresting migrants.
It marked a worsening standoff between the state and the federal government in the town of Eagle Pass.
Two weeks ago, two migrant children and their mother drowned when one of them broke the human chain they were using to cross the Rio Grande into the US.
Sancha Cerros, 33, her daughter Yorlei Rubi, 10, and son Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha, 8, died near the Eagle Pass crossing in Texas.
The mother and children died amid the tensions between Texas and the federal government over immigration policy at the border, and sparked accusations that Governor Greg Abbott was to blame.
Yorlei Rubi, 10, and her borther Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha, 8, died last Friday night trying to cross into the US over the Rio Grande
Their mother Sancha Cerros, 33, perished alongside them when one of the children let go of a human chain across the river, causing them to be swept away
Shelby Park, a local recreation area along the river, is a popular spot to cross and has recently been taken over by the Texas National Guard and blocked with fences, gates, and razor wire.
Border Patrol agents were denied access to the park on Friday night after they were told by Mexican authorities that a group of migrants crossing was in distress.
A day before the migrants drowned, the Justice Department warned Supreme Court justices that officials in Texas had taken control of Shelby Park and were not letting Border Patrol agents enter.
Cuellar, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee for homeland security, called the deaths ‘a tragedy.’
‘This is a tragedy, and the State bears responsibility,’ he said, accusing Texas of being responsible for the deaths.
National Guard soldiers stand guard on the banks of the Rio Grande river at Shelby Park
A National Guardsman lets in a truck at a gate of the Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, The Texas Military Department confirmed that the Texas National Guard seized control of the area
By last Monday, it was clear the three migrants had already drowned and guardsmen blocking Border Patrol did not change the outcome.
The Department of Homeland Security before the Supreme Court filing thrust the blame on the incident on Governor Gregg Abbott and his handling of the ongoing migrant crisis.
‘In responding to a distress call from the Mexican government, Border Patrol agents were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the park,’ it said.
‘The Texas governor’s policies are cruel, dangerous, and inhumane, and Texas’s blatant disregard for federal authority over immigration poses grave risks.’