Gov. Abbott: Biden officers don't have any 'clue about what’s occurring on the border'

(The Heart Sq.) – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says Biden administration officers claiming the southern border is safe is "a tragic joke.”

“None of those individuals in Washington have a clue about what’s occurring on the border,” he stated.

The Heart Sq. interviewed Abbott at a gathering with regulation enforcement officers about border safety on Thursday in Corpus Christi.

“The Border Czar has stated in Texas that the border is safe,” Abbott stated. “The Secretary of Homeland Safety stated the border is safe. The president’s spokesperson stated, ‘individuals don’t simply stroll throughout the border.’”

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was appointed final yr by President Joe Biden to be the “border czar,” has but to go to the southern border areas with the best quantity of unlawful immigration in response to Border Patrol knowledge – the Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley sectors of Texas. Final June, she visited El Paso, which has been busing unlawful overseas nationals out of Texas, claiming the administration “was making progress.”

Two weeks in the past, Harris spoke at a fundraiser for the Texas Democratic Celebration in Austin and ignored the governor’s invitation to go to the border. In September, whereas in Houston, she twice declared the border was safe in an interview with Face the Nation.

"I feel that there is no such thing as a query that we have now to do what the president and I requested Congress to do, the primary request we made: go a invoice to create a pathway to citizenship," Harris advised NBC News anchor Chuck Todd. "The border is safe, however we even have a damaged immigration system, particularly, over the past 4 years earlier than we got here in, and it must be mounted."

Todd pushed again, saying, "We'll have two million individuals cross this border for the primary time ever. You are assured this border's safe?"

Harris replied: "We have now a safe border in that that may be a precedence for any nation, together with ours and our administration. However there are nonetheless quite a lot of issues that we are attempting to repair given the deterioration that occurred over the past 4 years. We additionally should put into place a regulation and a plan for a pathway for citizenship for the thousands and thousands of people who find themselves right here and are ready to do what's legally required to achieve citizenship.

"We do not have that in place as a result of persons are enjoying politics in a state like this and in Congress," she added, referring to Abbott busing unlawful overseas nationals to Washington, D.C., New York Metropolis and Chicago.

Abbott advised The Heart Sq. he thinks that on Nov. 8, Republicans will regain management of the USA Congress. Subsequent yr, he stated, “Republicans will begin holding hearings on a weekly foundation, holding the Biden administration accountable for its failures on the border after which instilling necessities about what have to be performed on the border.”

This consists of, “for one, absolutely funding Border Patrol,” he stated. “Two, absolutely funding ICE and reinstating ICE for what it’s authentic objective is; three, reimbursing the state of Texas for the cash that we’ve put out of pocket to safe the border, and 4, by no means submitting a finances to President Biden that doesn't embody full funding to totally safe the border.”

He additionally stated Texas’ busing technique of sending unlawful overseas nationals to Washington, D.C., would proceed so long as the president doesn’t safe the border.

“That is one thing we want we weren't doing and shouldn’t should do,” he stated. “Nonetheless, so long as Biden maintains his open border insurance policies, I can be there to assist native communities. These native communities don't have any functionality in any respect to take care of these migrants. They begged me for assist. I supplied this concept as a manner of serving to native communities. I'll proceed to be there to assist these native communities so long as they want it.”

Since Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, regulation enforcement officers in Texas have apprehended greater than 314,000 individuals who’ve entered Texas and the U.S. illegally. They’ve made greater than 20,800 legal arrests and filed greater than 18,400 felony prices. Texas DPS has seized over 337 million deadly doses of fentanyl, sufficient to kill everybody within the U.S.

Texas has additionally bused extra 8,200 unlawful overseas nationals to Washington, D.C., since April, greater than 3,300 to New York Metropolis since Aug. 5, and greater than 1,000 to Chicago since Aug. 31.