WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The state of Texas will continue to defend its portion of the US border with Mexico amid a standoff with the Biden administration over the use of razor wire barriers, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement.
“Texas will continue to exercise its constitutional right to protect and defend our southern border,” Abbott said on Friday via social media platform X (formerly Twitter). “In President Biden’s absence, we will hold the line to keep Texans – and Americans – safe.”
On Monday, the US Supreme Court issued a temporary order to allow Border Patrol agents to remove the barriers placed by Texas. The following day, Department of Homeland Security General Counsel Jonathan Meyer sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requesting that the state confirm federal access to border sites by Friday.
However, Abbott maintains that Texas has a constitutional right to protect the border due to the Biden administration’s failure to address the record flow of illegal immigrants into the United States from Mexico.
Texas’ border security effort, dubbed Operation Lone Star, has led to nearly half a million illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 38,700 criminal arrests, Abbott’s office said in a statement on Friday.
