The border has been increasingly lawless since President Joe Biden took office. Texas isn’t getting any help from the Supreme Court either.
Monday, the Supreme Court released an opinion that temporarily backed the Biden administration, giving permission to federal agents to remove the concertina wire stretched along parts of the border, just one of the measures Texas has taken to keep the state secure and to keep migrants entering legal ports of entry.
While the Supreme Court has taken a stance that undoubtedly underscores the Constitution — only the federal government can enforce immigration law — Texas has been in an impossible position for years because the government has not sufficiently enforced the laws in place. Since Biden took office, migrants have flocked to the United States through the Texas-Mexico border. According to data from Customs and Border Protection, the number of migrants crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. in 2023 surpassed the populations of 17 states. This cannot stand.
Conservatives voiced their disapproval of the Supreme Court order. Some even suggested that Gov. Greg Abbott should refuse to let Border Patrol agents cut the wire along the border. On X, Abbott posted that “Texas will not back down from our efforts to secure the border in Biden’s absence.”
Newly released video Tuesday shows the National Guard actually placing more wire along the border. This is truly a showdown between state sovereignty and federal law.
A sane, wise administration devoted to national security and order in the immigration process would be dedicated to securing the border and slowing down the deluge of migrants crossing at overrun spots such as Eagle Pass, where they outnumbered agents 200 to one in December. There are so many migrants that Abbott has bussed them to cities such as New York, where Mayor Eric Adams has admitted leadership is overwhelmed and the crisis will “destroy” the city.
Still, rather than partner with Texas and be a strong ally, reinforcing what Texas is trying to do to secure the border and enabling federal agents to do the same, the Biden administration is determined to undermine law and order and Texas’ efforts at every turn, pitting the two against each other. When Texas placed buoys in the Rio Grande, not to be cruel but to deter a migrant from swimming across and drowning, the Biden administration sued Texas.
Protecting the nation’s border has come at great cost to Texas. Abbott has deployed thousands of law enforcement, including the Texas National Guard, to the border to help secure it. Law enforcement has apprehended almost 500,000 illegal migrants and made 38,500 criminal arrests; they’ve also seized over 400 million lethal doses of fentanyl coming across the border. Still, Texas’ efforts are not enough, and the border requires the full help of the federal government.
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Keeping our nation’s borders secure should be a nonpartisan issue both parties care about, not an issue that’s dividing conservatives against liberals, Texas against the federal government. In this vital moment in time, Biden should make Texas an important ally in the quest for national security and order.
Since Biden hasn’t done this, it raises an important question: Why is he forcing Texas to do this alone and punishing the state when it uses commonsense measures such as concertina wire? Why has the administration allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to cross the border the last three years? The answers to these questions will be vital in the coming months.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a mother of four and an opinion columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas.