Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) blasted President Joe Biden for using immigrants as “political pawns” as soon as they enter the United States.
Abbott appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss his recent visit to New York City, which has seen a flood of 157,000 immigrants between 2022 and 2023, according to its mayor, Eric Adams. The Texas governor made it clear that even though he’s transported immigrants from his state to the sanctuary city, his state has only sent a small number of the total immigrants who have arrived.
“The person who’s actually using illegal immigrants as political pawns is Joe Biden,” Abbott said. “Joe Biden has created this open border policy that has allowed illegal immigrants into our country to appeal to and appease the far leftists in the Democrat Party. The people like [Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), in hopes of trying to win their support while at the same time destroying the country that he is in charge of. “
New York City has received over 40,600 immigrants transported from Texas since August 2022. Meanwhile, Texas takes the brunt of illegal immigration. Local law enforcement apprehended more than 506,500 illegal immigrants since the start of Operation Lone Star in March 2021. Abbott said that the number of immigrants crossing into the state of Texas is on the decline as a result of his policies.
“Job-wise, Texas ranks No. 1 for the most new jobs added. So our economy and jobs are growing faster. At the very same time while illegal immigration into the state of Texas is going down. Illegal immigration in Texas has gone down 72% because of the resistance that we have put up,” Abbott said. “It has gone up in the other border states. So Texas is decreasing illegal immigration while at the very same time adding more jobs and growing our economy faster than the entire country.”
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Abbott’s policies are being challenged in court by Biden’s Department of Justice. The governor expressed his confidence that his immigration laws will withstand these legal challenges.
Last month, 137,000 migrants were apprehended at the 2,000-mile southern border. This is in addition to the more than 10 million immigrants who have reportedly entered the country illegally since Biden took office. It is the most recorded in that amount of time of any administration.
