Governor Greg Abbott
failed in a television appearance on Tuesday to acknowledge a dramatic reduction in migrant apprehensions at the southern border in a six-month span that ended in June with a lower count than the number recorded at the peak of a surge in 2019 on Donald Trump's watch as president.
Abbott used a Fox News interview as a stage to slam Kamala Harris' work as the "border czar" in a subtle elevation of the Democratic ticket leader to blame game pinnacle after complaining for years about the "Biden border crisis" when he thought the current president would be the nominee in 2024.
Abbott ripped Harris for failing to express remorse for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old in Houston during an appearance there on Monday.
"She could have at least mentioned her name and apologized for the loss of life - because it was the policies of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden that brought in a record number of illegal immigrants who are involved in rapes and murders across the entire country," Abbott told Kayleigh McEnany.
The Texas leader presented no evidence to support the rhetoric that went unchallenged by the approving host. McEnany, who served as Trump's press secretary in the White House, declined to challenge Abbott's unsubstantiated claims and information that's outdated and largely irrelevant as a result.
McEnany missed an opportunity to set the record straight on the fact that illegal immigration has plummeted as a direct product of selective restrictions the Biden administration imposed at the start of the year in line with the Mexican government's cooperation and assistance. Texas had been lining the Rio Grande with razor wire in a couple of locations for months before the migrant count took a sharp and immediate fall with the new federal limitations in place.
The number of migrants who federal agents encountered plunged from an all-time monthly high of 301,982 in December to 130,419 in June. That represents a decrease of 132 percent in migrant admissions into the U.S. in six months. The migrant count hit its lowest mark last month since Biden's first full month as the president in 2021.
Abbott had been silent when the migrant tally at the southwest border skyrocketed to 146,116 in the month of May in 2019 when Trump was the president. Abbott railed against Biden but afforded little attention to the VP except to mock her from time to time for refusing to heed GOP demands for a token visit to the Texas border.
But Abbott has intensified the attacks on Harris - pinning the blame on Harris and Biden to a lesser degree now for surging migrant rates that peaked at the end of 2023 and have been falling ever since. Abbott has tried to claim sole credit for a decrease in migrant apprehensions in Texas that he attributes to the novel border security operation he's had under way for three years with the Texas National Guard and state police.
But Abbott can take no credit for a steep decline in migrant entries in Arizona after the Texan's obstacles at the Rio Grande prompted a shift that turned the western state into the epicenter for a couple of months. The initial Texas gains came at Arizona's expense before the number of migrants apprehended there dropped 236 percent from December to June.
The number of migrants who federal agents rounded up in California fell 36 percent based on the counts in December and June. The past six months have given Harris and the Democrats a wealth of advertising material to counter Abbott's repeated claims on the Democratic president doing nothing to curb illegal immigration into the U.S.
Abbott may have given Harris a choice stat for a TV commercial on the fruits of federal actions at the border that the Republicans have ignored.
"President Biden & Vice President Harris have a sacred duty to protect our nation," Abbott said in a post on X on Monday.
"Yet under their watch, 383 KNOWN TERRORISTS have been apprehended crossing our border illegally.
Who knows how many more unknown terrorists are in our country because of their dangerous policies?"
The governor didn't attempt to explain how the apprehension of nearly 400 terrorists constitutes a lack of effort and action by Biden's federal government. Harris ads can portray it as American law enforcement at its finest. But the sharp drops in illegal crossings under the more restrictive federal policy have effectively defused Abbott's claims that Texas is under invasion from Mexico. But the governor has done nothing at this point to end the official decree on invaders from the south.
more to come ...
