Abbott Releases Statement Pledging to 'Defend Border'

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) released another statement that detailed his intention to continue using Operation Lone Star to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and stop the smuggling of drugs and migrants.

Gov. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star has apprehended nearly 500,000 migrants and made nearly 40,000 criminal arrests. The Texas lawmaker has been heavily focused on the border and has employed tactics that have been seen as deadly or unconstitutional.

“Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border. If Abbott is defying yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, @POTUS needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now,” said Rep. Castro.

Abbott defended himself from such accusations in a recent statement where he responded to the Supreme Court ruling that Border Patrol agents had the right to remove razor wire at the border. The court’s decision consisted of two conservative judges, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts, as well as the three liberal judges.

“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," reads the statement.

The governor continued, “President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.”

“Texas has a right as a state to stop criminals from coming into our state, to make arrests of those criminals—and we have National Guard as well as Texas Department of Public Safety officers who are there to make those arrests and to deny illegal entry,” said the governor.

“And Joe Biden actually does have an option here. Joe Biden’s option is to enforce the laws of the United States and stop this illegal entry,” concluded Abbott.