Over a Dozen GOP Governors Visit Texas Amid Border Clash With Federal Government

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott holds a press conference at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 4, 2024. Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images

Over a dozen GOP governors have visited Texas to show their support for Gov. Greg Abbott in his fight with the Biden Administration over the influx of people illegally crossing the border in Eagle Pass.

For weeks, the federal government and Texas Gov. Abbott have clashed after the National Guard took control of the 47-acre Shelby Park area in Eagle Pass, Texas, to halt the flood of people coming across the border.

The Texas National Guard has been accused of denying Border Patrol agents access to the park, leading to multiple legal battles. The Texas state government has cited its constitutional right to exercise authority to protect its borders.

In the Feb. 4 press conference, Gov. Abbott said he was forced to act because of President Biden’s “abject refusal” to enforce immigration laws, which, in turn, has caused the sky-high number of illegal border crossings.

“We are here to send a loud and clear message that we are banding together to fight to ensure that we will be able to maintain our constitutional guarantee that states will be able to defend against any type of imminent danger,” Gov. Abbott said.

Enforcing immigration law has traditionally fallen under the federal government’s purview.

According to Gov. Abbott, instead of enforcing immigration laws, President Biden had let millions of illegal border crossers “loose across the entire country, with no ability to arrest them or determine their whereabouts or what they may be doing.”

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) estimated throughout the 2023 fiscal year, 2.4 million people illegally crossed the border, up from 2.3 million the previous year.

In contrast, between Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020, before President Biden took office, there were only 458,000 encounters with border crossers by border patrol agents.

Abbott Worried About Terrorists  Slipping Across Border

Gov. Abbott says one of his most significant concerns is that enemies of America might be slipping through the open border, and the federal government does not “know the imminent dangers that we may be facing.”

“There are people on the terrorist watch list that are apprehended all the time coming across the border,” Gov. Abbott said.

“The United States of America and the president do not know how many people have crossed the border illegally, who are on the terrorist watch list, and have never been seen,” he added.

In the fiscal year 2024, which began in October 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported encountering 50 individuals on the FBI’s terror watchlist trying to enter the United States illegally.

In the fiscal year ending 2023, the total was 736. Compared to the two years between fiscal 2017 and 2019, Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 11 people on the terrorist watchlist.

Gov. Abbott also cited several instances of illegal migrants committing crimes after crossing the border, specifically pointing to a recent assault on two NYPD officers attempting to break up a disorderly crowd in Midtown Manhattan. The officers were treated at the scene for minor injuries, including facial cuts and body bruises, after at least five people attacked them.

“We have people who are coming across our border who were released from prison,” Gov. Abbott said.

“There’s extraordinary danger, imminent danger crossing our border all the time.”

Mr. Abbott’s stance has gained support from GOP governors in 25 states across the country, with some, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), deploying the Florida National Guard to the southern border to assist.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.