CORRECTION, Jan. 26, 2024: The Supreme Court decision on Monday did not forbid Texas from deploying razor wire at the border. It just vacated an injunction from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the wire. An earlier version of this article was incorrect on this point.
Support from Republicans around the country for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to continue to deploy concertina wire along the U.S. border with Mexico near Eagle Pass.
In a 5-4 decision Monday, the Supreme Court vacated an injunction from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the wire.
On Thursday, both the Republican Governors Association and former President Donald Trump issued statements encouraging Abbott and the authorities working under his leadership to protect the state’s sovereignty.
“When I was President, we had the most secure Border in History,” read an email from the Trump campaign titled “Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States.”
“Joe Biden has surrendered our Border, and is aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants into the United States,” the statement continued. “Instead of fighting to protect our Country from this onslaught, Biden is, unbelievably, fighting to tie the hands of Governor Abbott and the State of Texas, so that the Invasion continues unchecked. In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion.”
Trump encouraged not only Abbott and the state government of Texas to defend the border, but also other state governors to deploy National Guard troops to assist those efforts.
“We encourage all willing States to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of Illegals, and to remove them back across the Border,” Trump said. “All Americans should support the commonsense measures by Texas authorities to protect the Safety, Security, and Sovereignty of Texas, and of the American people.”
The former president also promised that things would be different — very different — if he re-takes the White House in November.
“When I am President, on Day One, instead of fighting Texas, I will work hand in hand with Governor Abbott and other Border States to Stop the Invasion, Seal the Border, and Rapidly Begin the Largest Domestic Deportation Operation in History,” he said. “Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home.”
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Also on Thursday, the RGA issued a statement signed by 25 of the 27 sitting Republican governors. (Abbott himself did not sign it, of course, and Vermont’s Phil Scott was the only holdout.)
“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” the statement said. “Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”
It was unclear how many of the signatories might be willing to send additional National Guard or other personnel to Texas to aid in protecting the border, but the statement called for the use of “every tool and strategy,” which arguably left the door open for such assistance, at least.
“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.
“The authors of the U.S. Constitution made clear that in times like this, states have a right of self-defense, under Article 4, Section 4 and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.”
The Texas Tribune noted that other elected officials in Texas and elsewhere, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, had also issued statements backing Abbott’s decision.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy, one of the more vocal border hawks in Congress, compared his state to a homeowner whose house was being broken into, arguing in a post to X that in such a case the homeowner didn’t have time to weigh the subtleties of self-defense laws.
“It’s like, if someone’s breaking into your house, and the court says, ‘Oh, sorry. You can’t defend yourself.’ What do you tell the court? You tell the court to go to hell, you defend yourself and then figure it out later.” #SecureTexas
MORE🔗: https://t.co/pvw5S0xm3A pic.twitter.com/u7h4Q4klDJ
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) January 25, 2024
“It’s like, if someone’s breaking into your house, and the court says, ‘Oh, sorry. You can’t defend yourself.’ What do you tell the court? You tell the court to go to hell, you defend yourself and then figure it out later,” he wrote.
