Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reversed course on an order shutting Adown at least six points of entry along the Texas-Mexico border on Friday, claiming that the Biden administration “flip-flopped” on border strategy, effectively abandoning a planned immigration enforcement partnership.
“Six hours after U.S. Customs and Border Protection requested help from Texas to close ports of entry and secure the border, the Biden Administration has now flip-flopped to a different strategy that abandons border security and instead makes it easier for people to cross illegally and for cartels to exploit the border,” the Texas governor’s office said in a statement emailed to media. “The Biden Administration is in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan.”
As the Daily Wire reported on Thursday, Abbott “shut down six ports of entry from Mexico into the United States to curb a surge in illegal migrants crossing over the border.”
“The sheer negligence of the Biden Administration to do their job and secure the border is appalling. I have directed the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to surge personnel and vehicles to shut down six points of entry along the southern border to stop these caravans from overrunning our state,” Abbott said.
The move came following reports that thousands of immigrants were sheltering under a bridge near a border crossing in Del Rio, Texas. Fox LA’s Bill Melugin obtained footage of the Del Rio situation:
BREAKING: Our drone is back over the international bridge in Del Rio, TX. Per source, the number of migrants waiting to be processed has now swelled to approx 8,200. It was 4,000 yesterday AM. Doubled in one day. BP overwhelmed, & I’m told situation is “out of control” @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/ThJJJ0JWCT
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 16, 2021
Melugin later added that Fox News was able to obtain drone footage, giving viewers a better idea of the scope of the problem.
NEW: Another stunning image from our @FoxNews drone team showing the situation at the international bridge in Del Rio, TX, where a law enforcement source tells me there are more than 8,000 migrants waiting to be processed by Border Patrol after crossing illegally into the U.S. pic.twitter.com/opey70NBNt
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 16, 2021
As the Daily Wire noted Friday, the Biden administration has now declared a halt to air traffic over the bridge through the Federal Aviation Administration over an unspecified “security” concern.
Abbott claimed Thursday that he was moving to fill a role the Biden administration was unwilling to take on or perform effectively. Friday’s statement seems to indicate that Abbott had planned to shut down the border as part of a larger immigration enforcement strategy, designed in partnership with the Biden administration.
That partnership appears to have crumbled.
Instead, Abbott now says that Texas Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies will guard border crossings and that he has “directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to maintain their presence at and around ports of entry to deter crossings.”
Abbott has limited power to enforce border restrictions. Typically immigration enforcement is the federal government’s purview, but Abbott has created a series of plans for immigration interdiction that work around the federal government’s control of border crossings, including building a Texas-specific border “impediment,” and policing within just a short distance of the border itself.
“Illegal immigration has surged since Biden won the election last year in November. Last month, the number of illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. numbered over 200,000, the second consecutive month to hit over that benchmark,” the Daily Wire’s Tim Pearce noted Thursday. “The roughly 208,000 illegal immigrants that crossed into the United States in August is an over 300% increase in illegal immigration over August 2020.”
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Source: Dailywire
