Republican governors gathered in Texas over the weekend to strongly support Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to secure the southern border.
More than a dozen Republican leaders gathered at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass to support Mr. Abbott in his confrontation with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement in the state.
“Republican governors are stepping up,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told “America’s Newsroom” on Monday after the visit. “Texas is leading the way. Texas owns 66% of our nation’s borders, and they’re putting the resources they need into our borders to protect our country. And other governors are coming along and doing that. and we will continue to do so, because without secure borders, our country is not secure.” ”
Most illegal border crossings move away from Texas and into Arizona and California
Sanders said the state had seized enough fentanyl to kill nearly its entire population and would deploy more resources and the Arkansas National Guard to the Texas border this year.
The governor criticized President Biden’s “refusal” to use his powers to ensure the nation’s security and accused him of shifting responsibility and responsibility to Congress.
“He can immediately reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy, continue building the border wall, and actually enforce the laws that we have on our books that will help secure our borders. is capable of doing that. He just refuses to do it,” she said.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who was also visiting Texas, said the illegal immigration crisis had also made his state less safe.
“Most of the problems are centered around people coming into the country for basically criminal purposes,” he told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. “We know that the majority of people coming into the country are committing criminal acts. Fentanyl is coming across our borders. It’s impacting our entire community.”
Landry said he is working with the state’s legislative leadership to send the funding and that the National Guard is “fulfilling the responsibility that President Biden and the Democratic Party should have.”
“All they’ve done is basically just punched holes in the border or said anyone can come in, and they haven’t even vetted who’s coming in,” he said.
The Eagle Pass hotspot is where Texas has been locked in a power struggle with the Biden administration since last month when it began denying access to U.S. Border Patrol agents at Shelby Park.
Border crossings have generally declined across the U.S. border in recent weeks, including in areas that are less heavily policed.
Tucson, Arizona, is the busiest of the nine Border Patrol divisions on the Mexican border, with 13,800 arrests in the week ending Friday. That’s down 29% from a peak of 19,400 cases in the week ending Dec. 22, said sector director John Modlin.
The number of Eagle Pass crossings these days has dropped to a few hundred per day. Texas closed Shelby Park to federal employees in late December after the number of railroad crossings plummeted. Mike Banks, whom Mr. Abbott appointed last year to oversee border control operations in Texas, said the park is a “magnet” for migrants trying to enter Texas.
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