‘Every Tool and Strategy’: GOP Governors, Trump Call for Border Security - with or without Biden

A coalition of Republican governors is backing Texas against the Biden administration as the Lone Star State is securing the southern border. Twenty-five governors signed a joint statement issued late Thursday, supporting Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s (R) declaration of an “invasion” and invocation of constitutional articles to enable Texas’s self-defense at the border.

“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” the governors wrote. “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.”

“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,” they continued. “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 governors concluded, “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 letter was signed by governors Kay Ivey (Ala.), Mike Dunleavy (Alaska), Sarah Sanders (Ark.), Ron DeSantis (Fla.), Brian Kemp (Ga.), Brad Little (Idaho), Eric Holcomb (Ind.), Kim Reynolds (Iowa), Jeff Landry (La.), Tate Reeves (Miss.), Mike Parson (Mo.), Greg Gianforte (Mont.), Jim Pillen (Neb.), Joe Lombardo (Nev.), Chris Sununu (N.H.), Doug Burgum (N.D.), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Kevin Stitt (Okla.), Henry McMaster (S.C.), Kristi Noem (S.D.), Bill Lee (Tenn.), Spencer Cox (Utah), Glenn Youngkin (Va.), Jim Justice (W.Va.), and Mark Gordon (Wyo.). Vermont’s Phil Scott was the only Republican governor in the nation who did not sign the letter.

The letter follows an escalating standoff between Texas and the Biden administration over the nation’s wide-open southern border. After Texas began erecting barriers at the border to deter the increasing influx of illegal immigrants, the Biden Department of Justice sued the Lone Star State, and federal Border Patrol agents began removing the razor wire that Texas had set up. After the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction to bar Border Patrol from removing or dismantling Texas’s razor wire, Biden’s Solicitor General asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. In a 5-4 decision, the Court vacated the injunction. Almost immediately, Abbott declared that the “federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” since the Biden administration has not only refused to enforce border security and immigration law but actively undermined and worked against both.

On Wednesday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” former White House and Justice Department attorney Ken Klukowski explained, “Under our Constitution, we have two separate sovereignties: you have the federal government and state governments; they are co-equal sovereigns; one doesn’t override the other.” He continued, “The Constitution assigns to each one their own specific responsibilities. And in this case, both levels — federal and state — have powers that that level of government can use that has the effect of securing the border and protecting people and property within each state.” He added, “There are those saying, ‘Oh, Texas is defying the Supreme Court.’ No, they’re not. Right now, Border Patrol agents are free to [cut] the fence, and Texas personnel are free to be setting it back up. … They can continue to try and secure the border, ironically, doing the Border Patrol’s job.”

Republican governors aren’t the only ones backing Abbott. Former President Donald Trump is also supporting Texas and calling on other states to send their National Guards to the border to help. “Joe Biden has surrendered our Border, and is aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants into the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “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.”

He continued to say, “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.” He also pledged, if elected president again, mass deportations of the over six million illegal immigrants Biden has allowed into the country, quipping, “Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home.”

Last year, over 14 governors deployed National Guardsmen and law enforcement personnel to Texas to assist with Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s effort to secure the border in Biden’s absence. Since the Texas governor issued his “invasion” declaration on Tuesday, other states have also mobilized their national guards.