OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had the greatest response to Washington D.C., Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser after she complained about her city being inundated with illegal aliens.
“With pledges from Texas and Arizona to continue these abhorrent operations indefinitely, the situation is dire, and we consider this a humanitarian crisis — one that could overwhelm our social support network without immediate and sustained federal intervention,” the mayor complained as she asked for help from the National Guard.
“We’ve had a number of discussions,” the mayor said. “We’ve facilitated FEMA’s involvement with a million dollar grant that has now been increased to work with a lead nonprofit agency. We’ve facilitated using those grant funds to set up a respite center in a neighboring jurisdiction and I’ve also asked the Secretary of the Army to deploy the D.C. National Guard to help lead that effort.”
The Republican governor responded to her complaints on Twitter.
“D.C. is experiencing a fraction of the disastrous impact the border crisis has caused Texas. Mayor Bowser should stop attacking Texas for securing the border & demand Joe Biden do his job,” he said.
D.C. is experiencing a fraction of the disastrous impact the border crisis has caused Texas.
Mayor Bowser should stop attacking Texas for securing the border & demand Joe Biden do his job. https://t.co/ThEmjxQMK3
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 28, 2022
Renae Eze, a spokesperson for the governor, said to the Washington Examiner that DC, “finally understands what Texans have been dealing with every single day, as our communities are overrun and overwhelmed by thousands of illegal immigrants thanks to President Biden’s open border policies.”
Vice President Kamala Harris tore into Gov. Greg Abbott last month after the Texas Republican ordered state law enforcement officials to begin rounding up illegal migrants and send them to federal border crossing stations.
Harris, whom Biden appointed ‘border czar’ early in his term, accused Abbott of “flame-throwing” after he signed an executive order last week allowing the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest undocumented migrants and return them to the border.
In an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” program, the vice president was asked what the Biden administration intended to do in response to Abbott’s plan and his blaming the White House for record surges of illegal border crossings and drug smuggling along the country’s border with Mexico, which Abbott has labeled an “invasion.”
“I would suggest that so-called leaders focus on solutions instead of attacks if they really are concerned about a problem, and that includes the issue of immigration,” Harris responded.
She then took a thinly veiled jab at former President Donald Trump, who she claimed created a “badly broken” immigration system — despite the fact that under Trump’s policies, the border became much more stable and illegal immigration fell to near-record-low levels.
At the same time, illegal crossings and drug smuggling have only risen since Biden put Harris in charge of solving the border crisis. But in response, she maintained that the only way forward is “passing a pathway for citizenship” for illegal migrants, an oft-repeated Democratic talking point.
“So that we can have a humane and appropriate approach to this issue, including of course, what we will continue to do in terms of prioritizing border security, but the understanding we also need to create a pathway,” she told CBS.
“And that’s where I think everyone should be focused if they’re actually concerned about solutions, instead of flame-throwing,” she added.
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The Daily Mail adds:
Abbott’s order comes against the backdrop of a new record surge in asylum-seekers at the southern border, and days after the Supreme Court ruled President Biden could get rid of the controversial Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols, nicknamed the ‘Remain In Mexico’ policy.
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) recorded 239,416 migrant encounters in May.
Harris had not made a public statement on the surge when the data was released last month.
Accountability for the rise in migrants straining local and state governments – in addition to the federal immigration pipeline – has largely fallen onto Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as well as Biden himself.
