White House condemns Texas border wire, stops short of calling it illegal

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Immigration Texas
Migrants walk along concertina wire as they try to cross the Rio Grande at the Texas-U.S. border in Eagle Pass, Texas, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Eric Gay/AP

White House condemns Texas border wire, stops short of calling it illegal

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The White House on Wednesday strongly criticized Texas’s border fence but did not call it illegal.

A reporter asked about the fence during the afternoon press briefing and whether it violated any laws, leading to a sharp response from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

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“I can’t speak to the legal piece of the wires,” she told Dallas Morning News reporter Todd Gillman. “What I can say is that we’re going to continue to condemn any actions, these types of actions, that [Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX)] takes. When it comes to treating these immigrants in an inhumane way, that we’ll be very clear about.”

Abbott has installed multi-layered razor wire and a wall of floating buoys along the U.S-Mexico border in an effort to deter illegal immigrants from trying to cross.

But the moves have generated controversy, however, with lawsuits and formal complaints from Mexico. One Texas trooper complained that Abbott’s border policies “have stepped over the line into the inhumane.”

So far, Abbott is standing his ground.

“When we’re dealing with 100 or 1,000 people, one of the goals is to slow down and deter as many of them as possible,” he said on June 8. “Some may eventually get to the border, where they are going to face that multi-layered razor wire and a full force of National Guard and DPS officers.”

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The reporter also asked Jean-Pierre if anything had been done to try and remove the installations. She responded that it’s a matter for the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, but again condemned Abbott’s actions.

“It is a political stunt, it is inhumane,” she said. “It is atrocious.”

© 2023 Washington Examiner

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