Texas Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed President Joe Biden to the bottom of Air Drive One in El Paso on Sunday and handed him a scathing letter condemning the president’s dealing with of immigration and border safety.
“Your go to to our southern border with Mexico in the present day is $20 billion brief and two years late,” Abbott, a Republican who’s about to start his third time period, stated within the one-page letter to the Democratic president. “Moreover, your go to avoids the websites of mass unlawful immigration and bypasses the 1000’s of indignant Texas property house owners whose lives have been shattered by your border insurance policies.”
The temporary however seemingly cordial alternate between Biden and Abbott was caught by TV information cameras, however their remarks weren’t. Biden appeared to learn the letter earlier than folding it and giving the governor one remaining handshake earlier than shifting on to greet others who turned out to satisfy him throughout his temporary keep in El Paso.
Abbott has completed little to cover his dislike of Biden’s border insurance policies, which have rolled again lots of then-President Donald Trump’s powerful immigration insurance policies. Chatting with reporters after his go to to the president, the governor reiterated his grievances.
“The president who prompted the chaos on the border needed to be right here,” Abbott stated in a five-minute question-and-answer session. “He must step up and act shortly, together with returning the cash we spent (on state border patrol initiatives) to the state of Texas.”
When requested what the president instructed him, Abbott replied, “He stated he needed to work with us.”
The unannounced assembly on the airport got here after a weekend wherein Abbott criticized Biden in a sequence of social media posts and appearances on Fox Information.
“That is only a picture op and a faux recreation,” Abbott instructed the cable community earlier Sunday.
Abbott and different Texas Republican leaders have referred to as on Biden to each go to the nation’s southern border and take aggressive motion to curb a two-year spike in unlawful crossings.
Biden’s journey to the border, his first since taking workplace two years in the past, was introduced final week after El Paso dominated nationwide headlines as 1000’s of migrants gathered on the border, lots of whom awaited the coverage’s lifting within the Metropolis entered often called Title 42. This coverage, rumored to have been imposed through the Trump years as a COVID containment technique, permits immigration officers to swiftly expel migrants and, in some circumstances, droop the precise to hunt asylum underneath US legislation and worldwide treaties.
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The Supreme Courtroom has dominated that the coverage have to be introduced earlier than the courtroom later this yr.
Abbott, talking to reporters in El Paso, famous that Texas is a celebration to the pending litigation.
“He has a authorized obligation as president to uphold Title 42,” Abbott stated.
The governor stated he additionally desires the federal authorities to reimburse Texas for Abbott’s $four billion border plan, which he calls Operation Lone Star, which has deployed 1000’s of Nationwide Guard and Division of Public Security troopers on the border . Abbott stated he’ll ask the Legislature for an extra $four billion this yr.
In his letter to Biden, Abbott listed quite a few steps he believes the federal government ought to take to curb each unlawful immigration and the unlawful importation of medication. He outlined the beneficial actions Biden ought to soak up bullet factors:
- They need to adjust to the various legal guidelines that dictate that totally different classes of (migrants) have to be detained and finish the observe of mass unlawful dismissals of migrants.
- You have to cease opposing implementation of the Stay-in-Mexico coverage and Title 42 expulsions, and totally implement these measures as ordered by the federal courts.
- They need to aggressively prosecute unlawful entry between ports of entry and permit ICE to take away unlawful immigrants in accordance with current federal legal guidelines.
- They need to instantly resume building of the border wall within the state of Texas, utilizing the billions of dollars that Congress has earmarked for the aim.
- They need to label the Mexican drug cartels as overseas terrorist organizations.
John C. Moritz reviews on Texas authorities and politics for the USA At present Community in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and observe him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.