Democrats are clamoring for a major standoff at the southern border between Texas and the federal government, but in doing so, they are putting President Joe Biden in a politically disastrous position.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), with the support of Republican governors across the country, stood firm on securing the border with barbed wire and the Texas National Guard this week, despite the Supreme Court vacating a ruling that barred the federal government from removing those wire barriers. Specifically, while the court did not order Texas itself to remove the wire or stop erecting it, the justices said the federal government, for now, could not be barred from dislodging it.
In a statement Wednesday, Abbott invoked the U.S. Constitution and said that Texas is facing an invasion at the southern border, necessitating that the state defend itself.
“James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border,” the governor wrote.
In response, prominent Texas Democrats such as Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) and perennial loser candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke called on Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard and open the border.
And herein lies Biden’s problem. It is an election year, he is historically unpopular, and polling consistently shows that his handling of the immigration problem is a particular sore spot for voters.
If he does nothing and allows Abbott’s actions to stand, the president risks angering his supporters by enabling an action Democrats view as illegal. But if he were to federalize the Texas National Guard and remove the barbed wire, he effectively would be sending troops to open the border to illegal immigrants, providing a powerful visual that he wants the border to be open.
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By all indications, Abbott is prepared to enter into a standoff of sorts with Biden at the southern border, and the fact that Republican governors from Utah, Idaho, Virginia, and Georgia are all coming to his support is strengthening his hand as he takes on the president’s lawlessness.
If Democrats want to open the border forcibly, Abbott should dare them to do it. Morality, common sense, and the people are all on his side.