Greg Abbott declares Texas' right to self-defense 'supersedes any federal statutes'
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday proclaimed that the Lone Star State’s right to self-defense “supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary” amid a feud with the Biden administration over border security.
Abbott’s statement of defiance comes on the heels of a standoff over razor wire the state has laid across the US-Mexico border despite a US Supreme Court ruling permitting the federal government to remove that barrier.
“Visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that states should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border,” Abbott said.
The Lone Star State Republican argued that because the federal government has failed to safeguard Texas from an invasion, the state has the “constitutional authority to defend” itself.
“That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary,” Abbott stressed.
Biden administration officials rejected that assertion, contending that the Constitution is actually the supreme law of the land.
“As we have said many times before, Governor Abbott should stop his extreme political stunts and stop making it harder and more dangerous for Border Patrol to do their jobs,” a White House spokesperson told The Post.
On Monday, the Supreme Court determined in a 5-4 ruling that federal agents can remove the sharp concertina wire placed at sections of the border, while a lawsuit on the matter plays out.
President Biden’s administration argued this authority was necessary so border officials responding to medical and other emergencies aren’t impeded by the fencing.
Texas laid down the wire in a bid to dissuade migrants from traversing high-traffic sites.
Last year, the Lone Star State sued the Biden administration to stop the wire-cutting.
Despite the ruling, Abbott pledged that the state would “continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration.”
The razor-wire feud went unmentioned in his missive about Texas’ right to self-defense. However, he alleged that Biden “has refused to enforce those [immigration] laws and has even violated them.”
“More than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country,” Abbott groused.
During fiscal year 2023, a record-breaking 2,475,669 migrant encounters were recorded at the southern border, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
Preliminary data indicate over 300,000 migrant encounters were recorded last December.
Abbott has been testing the limits of state power to combat the simmering border crisis.
Under Operation Lone Star, his administration claims to have shipped over 100,000 migrants to blue cities and conducted over 496,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions.
The governor has quarreled with the Biden administration over immigration policy repeatedly.
Earlier this month, the administration threatened to sue Texas if the state detains illegal immigrants under state law.
Texas has a law on the books to that effect set to take effect in March.
The Justice Department has sued Texas over its use of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande. Texas recently scored a victory from an appeals court on that matter.
Earlier this month, Texas authorities cordoned off a park in Eagle Pass to impede migrants and even unauthorized Border Patrol agents from entering.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the record.
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