Razor Wire Results in ‘Massive Reduction’ of Illegal Immigrants Into Texas: Abbott

Texas National Guardsmen add razor wire and barriers along the U.S.–Mexico border in Shelby Park, Eagle Pass, on Jan. 23, 2024. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Installing razor wire along the U.S.-Mexico border has led to a “massive reduction” of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States, according to state governor Greg Abbott, who said he has widespread support for the defensive measure.

“More than half of the governors are now joined together in support of a very important proposition. And that is, we are guaranteed by the United States Constitution the right of self-defense if states face imminent harm or invasion,” Gov. Abbott said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

“Texas obviously is facing both an imminent harm as well as an invasion. And so these governors are rallying around Texas to support our ongoing right to self-defense and the deployment of this razor wire that has led to a massive reduction in [the] inflow” of illegal immigrants.”

Texas began installing razor wire along the border with Mexico last year. The Biden administration argued against the move, saying that the state doesn’t have the authority to install it. However, Texas said it has the right to protect its citizens from the influx of illegal immigrants.

“The area where we have occupied this park in Eagle Pass, Texas, that we put up the razor wire, there used to be 3,000 or 4,000 people crossing that area a day. For the past three days, we’ve averaged just three people crossing that area. The point is, if we put up resistance, we show that we can secure the border. Joe Biden should not be stopping that,” Mr. Abbott said.

On Jan. 22, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal agents could not be blocked from removing razor wire placed along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Following the decision, Gov. Abbott announced that his state will not “back down from our efforts to secure the border.” In an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, the governor said that Texas was “adding more razor wire as we speak right now to make sure that we are doing even more to secure the border.”

Last month when a reporter asked whether the U.S.-Mexico border is secure, President Joe Biden replied, “No, it’s not. I haven’t believed that for the last 10 years, and I’ve said it for the last 10 years.”

On Jan. 26, the president called on Republicans to support a set of border reforms that would grant him greater authority over the illegal immigrant issue.

The proposed reforms “would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed,” he said.

Speaking to Fox, Mr. Abbott criticized the president’s statements. “Biden says he needs Congress to give him the power to do whatever he needs to do to secure the border. The fact is, as we all saw from what President Trump did, the president of the United States has the power.”

The president is obligated by law to deny entry to any illegal immigrant, he said. “And then if they do get into the United States, he has a legal obligation to detain those illegal immigrants.”

However,  he said, “Joe Biden is failing at both of those duties, and that’s exactly what gives Texas the authority to make sure that we can step up and secure our own border and protect our own state through self-defense.”

Trump Backs Texas

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has committed to sending reinforcements to Texas if he is re-elected to the White House.

“When I’m president, instead of trying to send Texas a restraining order, I will send them reinforcements,” President Trump told a crowd on Jan. 27. “Instead of fighting border states, I will use every resource tool and authority of the U.S. president to defend the United States of America from this horrible invasion that is taking place right now.”

In a recent interview with Fox, President Trump was asked whether he would deport the eight to 10 million illegal immigrants in the country. He replied, “We’re gonna have to deport a lot of them. It’s not sustainable.”

Commenting on this statement, Mr. Abbott said in his interview that one of President Trump’s priorities was to “crack down on illegal immigration. And this is more than rhetoric on his part.”

“He has a proven record of what he did when he was president. Remember, when he was president, he implemented four policies that led to the lowest illegal border crossings in 40 years.”

More than a dozen GOP governors recently visited Texas to show their support for the state’s fight to protect itself from the influx of illegal immigrants.

“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,” Mr. Abbott said during a Feb. 4 press conference.

For the 2023 fiscal year, 2.4 million illegal immigrants are estimated to have crossed into the United States, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This is far above the 458,000 encounters border patrol agents had with illegal immigrants between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, when President Trump was in office.

A poll published by Rasmussen Reports in late January found that 69 percent of likely American voters support Texas in erecting border barriers to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the United States, including 53 percent who “strongly support” the action. Only 27 percent opposed Texas trying to block illegal immigration.