Governor Abbott rejects Biden-Harris victory lap story as border crossings decline in Texas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is blaming a sharp drop in border crossings in 2024, arguing that this is due to his state's efforts rather than the Biden administration's policies, which he says have hindered rather than helped efforts to secure the border as the administration has tried to “tear down” what Texas has done.

“Texas has the longest border of any state in the United States of America. And in the early years of the Biden administration, it was Texas that was overrun by the illegal immigration policies promoted and implemented by [President] Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Abbott pursued an aggressive strategy under Operation Lone Star, sending troops and resources to the border, building his own border wall after the Biden administration halted construction, placing buoys in the Rio Grande and erecting a barbed wire fence. This led to a series of legal battles between the state and the Biden administration. The White House accused Abbott of endangering migrants and the Border Patrol and obstructing federal law enforcement.

BORDER AGENT REVEALS WHICH FOREIGN GANG THEY ARE MAKING 'PRIORITY' FOR MULTIPLE-STATE CRIMES

After three years of historic crisis at the southern border, in which record numbers of encounters have been repeatedly broken since Biden took office in the White House, the numbers have dropped dramatically over the summer.

The White House attributed the sharp drop in encounters to an executive order signed by Biden in June that restricted asylum seekers from entering the U.S. July saw the lowest number of encounters since September 2020.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The administration argues it needs more money and reforms from Congress, but Republicans voted against it for political reasons. Specifically, officials cited a bipartisan bill that would have increased funding while limiting the number of filings. It failed to make it through the Senate.

“For months, the Biden-Harris administration worked with a bipartisan group of senators on a historic, bipartisan border security deal that would have brought thousands of frontline workers to the border – but Republicans in Congress voted against that deal twice – proving they are more interested in cynical political games than securing the border,” the White House said last month. “The Biden-Harris administration has taken effective action, and Republicans continue to do nothing.”

HOW EAGLE PASS BECAME THE CENTERPIECE OF ABBOTT'S EFFORTS TO SECURE THE BORDER

But Abbott said the decline in Texas had nothing to do with that policy.

“In Texas, illegal immigration is down about 85%, while it's higher in Arizona, New Mexico and California,” he said. “That shows that what Texas is doing is working, even though Biden and Harris have challenged Texas at every turn to try to tear down what we've built.”

Abbott's comments come amid an ongoing political dispute over who is responsible for the border crisis and which presidential candidate is better placed to resolve it.

Harris has recently argued that she is the better candidate to solve problems at the border, focusing on the bipartisan Senate bill and blaming former President Trump for its failure.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION REPORTS

“As President, I will reintroduce and sign the bipartisan border security legislation he vetoed. I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system. We can win a well-deserved Path to citizenship and secure our border,” she said at the Democratic Party Convention.

Abbott said Harris believes in an “open borders policy” and announced he would support Trump in the November election.

“Americans need to face reality: both how policies have changed under Biden-Harris and what Kamala Harris would do to virtually put America on a path of destruction,” he said.

Source of the original article: Governor Abbott rejects Biden-Harris victory lap story as border crossings decline in Texas