Governor Greg Abbott contended that President Joe Biden was trying to bamboozle voters on Tuesday as
a consequence of steps that he took to dramatically slash the number of migrants entering the U.S. illegally every month.
"Biden's announcement today does nothing to secure the border," Abbott claimed in a post on X. "It actually AUTHORIZES 2,500 aliens to cross illegally & provides an enticement that will attract even more illegal immigrants.
He's just trying to hoodwink Americans to think he's taking action before the election."
The Texas governor has become an expert on the use of executive orders and public relations productions to create the appearance of border security here. Abbott has artfully managed to persuade fellow Republicans that Texas is being invaded from the south at the same time he promises Texans that the state is holding the line at the Rio Grande.
Abbott and GOP lawmakers in Austin have poured $11 million or more into the state police and military mission at the governor dubbed Operation Lone Star. The state - in return - has failed to force a single migrant to return to Mexico on Abbott's watch as the state's top leader. Abbott has sought to spread an ostensible immigration crisis around the country with free bus rides to cities of their choices.
But Tuesday marked the first time that Abbott has actually acknowledged one of multiple actions that the Biden administration as taken to reduce the flow of people into the U,S. illegally. Abbott has sought to take the credit for sharp drops in migrant apprehensions at times in the past 18 months when the White House and the government in Mexico arguably deserve a substantially larger share.
Migrant encounters in Texas plunged in most federal regions here in recent months due to restrictions that Mexico imposed on foreign immigrants at Biden's urging.
“The border is not a political issue to be weaponized," Biden said today when he unveiled the new restrictions that Abbott views as a hoax.
The new directive will shut down applications for asylum when the daily count of migrant encounters at the southern border reaches 2,500 a day. Requests for legal asylum will reopen after the number of average number of daily crossings falls back to 1,500.
Migrant admissions would be almost one-third the amount that they averaged on a daily basis in the past year.
Republicans decried the new migrant cap as a thinly-veiled attempt to mask a mounting problem for Biden before he squares off with Donald Trump again in the fall.
more to come ...
