Texas Forces Digging In, Abbott Warns Biden That Federalizing the Guard Would Be a 'Total Disaster'
The border situation is taking center stage between the Biden administration and the state of Texas, and the battle lines have been established.
Over the past month, Texas and the Biden administration have been locked in a standoff over Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas. The park has seen a massive surge of illegal border crossings that state National Guard troops are trying to stem. However, they have denied access to federal Border Patrol agents seeking to take custody of migrants.
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to allow the federal government to remove razor wire installed by the Texas National Guard along the Rio Grande, according to the Associated Press.
The Department of Homeland Security issued an ultimatum giving Texas until Friday to grant Border Patrol access or face consequences. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defied the order, writing a letter to DHS firmly rejecting their demand for compliance.
Texas forces, in a display of resilience and defiance, have continued building barriers.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott justified the state’s own National Guard deployment and construction of border barriers under the state’s constitutional authority to defend against an “invasion,” according to The Hill.
During an interview with the host of the new show “Uncensored,” Tucker Carlson, who referred to the situation as “clearly a collision course,” Abbott said that he would consider any decision of the Biden administration to federalize the National Guard of the state of Texas a “boneheaded move on his part” and “a total disaster.”
Speaking from India, where Abbott and a team of business leaders from Austin and around Texas are visiting to boost trade and investment in the state, according to Axios, the governor told Carlson that Texas is “prepared in the … unlikely event that it does happen.”
In an interview from India, Gov. Greg Abbott says ten other states have sent national guard to the Texas border, and others will follow. Abbott says he is “prepared” for a conflict with federal authorities. pic.twitter.com/F58MLoOsAZ
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 26, 2024
“We will continue to do exactly what we’re doing to expand our denial of illegal entry into the state of Texas,” Abbott said.
In response to Carlson’s question about whether he could envision a scenario in which he would put “armed state employees on the border instead of the National Guard of Texas,” Abbott responded that Texas already has armed state employees on the border, including National Guard from other states.
“And you can be assured there will more be National Guard from other states and more law enforcement officers from within the state of Texas and other states,” Abbott said.
Abbott also told Tucker that he had just signed a law in the state of Texas that will go into effect on March 5 that “authorizes any law enforcement officer in the State of Texas to be able to arrest anybody coming across the border illegally.”
Abbott said that although he has not had a conversation with President Biden or anyone from the administration about what appears to be an “imminent collision,” he has talked with the President about the border before on a “tarmac in El Paso.”
“I handed [Biden] a letter that had in it immediate solutions he could take that would immediately secure the border without the need of any new law to be passed,” Abbott said.
“Despite the fact that I handed him, altogether eight different letters, he has refused to ever respond,” he added.
“We have laid down the precursor of what’s called Article 4, Section 4 of the United States Constitution to show that we have been invaded, and we have demanded support from the president to safeguard our state, and they have refused to do so eight times.
“That authorized me to declare an ‘invasion’ under Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution to make sure that Texas is going to be able to use every tool in our arsenal to defend our state,” Abbott said.
Abbott said he would be “shocked and disappointed” if the Republican governors who have pledged support to Texas didn’t send National Guard forces to his state.
“There have been about 10 so far that have sent National Guard or other law enforcement. They now are joined together with us,” he said.
“This is a fight for the future of America and they all know it,” Abbott said.
“And so I believe that they will all be in on this effort,” he added.
According to Abbott, Texas is going to continue to expand the border barriers that they are erecting and continue to gain control of more land in the coming months.
Former President Donald Trump posted his support for Texas on Truth Social, writing, “We encourage all willing States to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of Illegals, and to remove them back across the Border. All Americans should support the commonsense measures by Texas authorities to protect the Safety, Security, and Sovereignty of Texas, and of the American people.
“When I am President, on Day One, instead of fighting Texas, I will work hand in hand with Governor Abbott and other Border States to Stop the Invasion, Seal the Border, and Rapidly Begin the Largest Domestic Deportation Operation in History. Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home,” he wrote.
As tensions rise, the nation waits with bated breath to see the outcome of the standoff.
In his interview with Carlson, Abbott said that he believes the border crisis will all end on Jan. 20, 2025, when a new president is sworn in.
According to Abbott, the new president will enforce the immigration laws of the entire country, including the Canadian border.
“We will have safe and secure borders once again because we will have a president who actually will enforce the laws of the United States of America,” Abbott said hopefully.
From Abbott’s lips to God’s ears.
But with the nation tearing apart at the seams as the federal government could possibly take arms against the National Guard of at least 10 of its own states, 2025 seems a very long way off.
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