Biden Changes Tune on Border as Polls Show Strong Support for Texas’s Stand

Over the weekend at a campaign event, President Joe Biden pledged to “shut down the border right now” if a border deal is reached in Congress. The admission appears to signal a seismic shift in the president’s messaging on the southern border crisis as polls indicate that almost three quarters of Americans say they support Texas in its standoff with the federal government over securing the border.

Rasmussen Reports released results from their latest poll on Monday showing that almost 70% of Americans “support Texas erecting barriers at the border to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing, including 53% who Strongly Support the action.” The survey comes as the ongoing showdown between Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and the Biden administration continues after the governor sent the state’s National Guard to take over border security operations from the Border Patrol along portions of the border earlier this month.

On Monday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R) joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to give an update on where things stand at the southern border, noting that Texas’s border security budget has ballooned to previously unimaginable levels due to the chaos caused by Biden’s policies.

“In 2005 and 2007, I was able to get $100 million and then about $200 million in our budget,” he explained. “When I became lieutenant governor, we increased it to $800 million. And now, Tony, it’s … $2 billion per year. … [I]t’s going to be eight to 10 million people who have crossed into this country illegally since Biden became president, about two million a year. And … those are the ones that come across the 28 points of entry and surrender. That doesn’t count the gotaways that … we never see.”

Patrick went on to give perspective on the size and scope of the southern border and what it takes to secure it.

“Our border between Mexico is the same mileage between Atlanta, Georgia and Portland, Maine,” he pointed out. “… [W]e don’t mind standing up for Texas and the rest of the country when the federal government should be doing their job. But [Texas’s border budget is] bigger than probably six or seven states’ entire budgets. … I want to put this in perspective. … If we think we get one out of every two, that means 16 million have come in during the Biden administration. That would make the state of illegal immigrants the seventh largest state in the country, after California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, [and] Illinois.”

Patrick further observed that a large segment of the individuals crossing the border are not families with children. “[W]e’ve caught nearly 300 terrorists on our watch list. People are coming here from all over the world. We just apprehended someone from Lebanon the other day. They’ve come here from Syria. They’ve come here from everywhere you can imagine, from countries that are not our friends. … These are mostly single men, 18 to 40, coming into this country. We don’t know where they’re going. We don’t know where they are. We don’t know what their objective is. [I]t is dangerous for America.”

The lieutenant governor also contended that Biden’s open border policies are causing immense human suffering that could be avoided. “[T]he tragedy of people drowning in the river who can’t swim … the tragedy of the women raped constantly coming across the border, and children put in the sex slavery, the tragedy of fentanyl being the number one killer of Americans now 18 to 40, the tragedy of the police officers and the innocent civilians who have been killed by either drunk drivers who are here illegally, or MS-13 or other criminals. All that death is with the Biden policies. It’s real lives here.”

Patrick continued, “No one should come here unless we approve of them coming or unless they qualify for asylum, which only about 10% actually do. Because no one should have to come to America in the back of an 18-wheeler and suffocate or drown in the river. The parties need to come together, have legal reform. But the first thing you do before you do that is secure the border, lock it down tight.”

Patrick concluded by predicting that the border crisis, along with a number of other controversial policies, will likely lead to negative consequences for Biden in the November elections. “[There’s] going to be a reckoning at the ballot box. This can’t continue. … [T]he boys playing girls’ sports, … everybody should drive an electric car, … stopping the natural gas exports. He’s wrecking America … from our culture, our schools, our health care system, our energy, our military, our border. … I pray that that reckoning comes at the ballot box and we take back this country.”