Former President Donald Trump on Thursday gave his backing to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott amid the latter’s feud with the Biden administration over border security — urging states to send their National Guards to the border and promising to work “hand in hand” with the state to combat the “invasion” if he is inaugurated again in January 2025.
In posts to Truth Social, Trump backed Abbott and accused President Biden of “fighting to tie the hands” of the Republican governor “so that the Invasion continues unchecked.”
A feud that has been bubbling for months between Texas and the administration exploded in recent weeks after Texas seized the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass and blocked Border Patrol from entering — sparking protests and threats of legal action from the administration.
SPEAKER JOHNSON SAYS HOUSE ‘WILL DO EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER’ TO BACK TEXAS OVER BORDER FEUD
The Supreme Court this week found in the administration’s favor when it granted an emergency appeal to allow agents to keep cutting border wire set up by Texas along the border, after a lower court had blocked the administration from doing so.
Former President Donald Trump points to supporters at the conclusion of a campaign rally at the Atkinson Country Club in Atkinson, New Hampshire, on Jan. 16. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The two sides have been feuding since 2021 when the migrant crisis escalated and Texas launched Operation Lone Star to surge resources to the border. The administration recently sued over an anti-illegal immigration law that allows state and local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants. It has also sued over the state’s setting up of buoys in the Rio Grande. The administration says immigration enforcement is up to the federal government and Texas is interfering.
ABBOTT DECLARES TEXAS HAS ‘RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE’ FROM MIGRANT ‘INVASION AMID FEUD WITH BIDEN ADMIN
“Whether it is leaving migrants on the side of the road in the dead of winter, installing razor wire to make Border Patrol’s job more dangerous, promoting extreme and unconstitutional laws like S.B. 4, or his latest actions in Eagle Pass, Governor Abbott has repeatedly proven that he is not interested in solutions and only seeks to politicize the border,” a recent White House statement said.
“The President has been clear that we need adequate resources and policy changes, and that our immigration system is broken. That is why on his first day in office he presented Congress with a comprehensive immigration reform plan, and that is why he is working to find a bipartisan agreement with Congress that includes funding and meaningful reforms,” it added.
Abbott this week cited a “right to self-defense” and noted he has already declared an “invasion” to invoke the authority, which he calls “the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.”
Trump said that Abbott must be given ‘full support” and encouraged “all willing states to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of illegals and to remove them back across the border.”
TEXAS AG PAXTON PROMISES ‘FIGHT IS NOT OVER’ AFTER SCOTUS RULE ON BIDEN ADMIN’S RAZOR WIRE CUTTING
“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,” he said.
“Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home,” Trump said.
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Abbott has also picked up the support of more than two dozen Republican states who have publicly expressed their support for the state. Meanwhile, some Democrats have urged the Biden administration to seize control of the National Guard.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
