Rep. Republican Mike Collins introduced legislation Thursday that would prohibit the Biden administration from cutting razor wire and tearing down other barriers Texas has erected near the southern border.
The Administrative Restraints from Obliging Robbers (RAZOR) Act prohibits “removing or altering any government-constructed barriers installed to reduce illegal immigration.”
“President Biden is aiding and abetting the illegal aliens who swarm our borders and raid our nation’s resources. Why else is he trying to stop the state of Texas from returning them to Mexico? Collins (R-Ga.) said in a statement.
“With the Supreme Court siding with the Biden administration’s Last America policy, Congress must stand with Governor Greg Abbott as he fights for the sovereignty of his state and our nation.”
On Monday, the US Supreme Court vacated a lower court injunction that prevented the Biden administration from cutting concertina wire, also called barbed wire or razor wire, made by Texas law enforcement officials while a lawsuit on the matter was conducted.
Rep. Mike Collins has made a name for himself with his penchant for posting memes on social media. CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
Texas has sought to block the administration from removing the wire and has mounted court challenges for months.
Biden officials argued in court that Border Patrol agents need to be able to cut razor-sharp wire to deal with emergency medical situations.
After the decision, Abbott vowed to continue using the wire and shown that the Lone Star State would not prevent the federal government from accessing parts of the US-Mexico border.
A Honduran mother crawled over concertina wire with her three children after crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico. James Keivom
“If the Supreme Court does not allow states to defend their sovereignty and our country, Congress has a moral imperative to act,” Collins added to X.
In a separate case, the Justice Department has sued Texas to remove a floating barrier on the Rio Grande. Last week, a federal appeals court vacated the initial ruling, allowing the barrier to remain in place for now.
On Wednesday, Abbott declared that Texas has a right to self-defense that “supersedes any federal statute to the contrary.”
Other Republican officials, including Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, came to Abbott’s defense.
Immigrants crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico to the United States via concertina wire. NYPJ
“It’s unfortunate that there is a governor in Texas, Governor Abbott, who has politicized this issue of what’s happening at the border,” the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told CNN Thursday.
“He actually put Border Patrol agents in danger by doing what he did.”
Abbott hit back during an interview with Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” calling the comments “grossly ill-informed” while downplaying the Supreme Court order.
“They did not write any kind of opinion. What they did was vacate the order of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals back to the 5th Circuit,” he told the network.
Greg Abbott has vowed to fight the Biden administration on the border. Robert Miller
“There’s no opinion on anything about razor wire,” added Abbott, who said he’s confident Texas can win on merit.
Abbott has been at odds with the Biden administration over the border since the president took office in January 2021.
Under Operation Lone Star, the Texas administration claims to have sent more than 100,000 immigrants to blue cities and made more than 496,000 illegal immigration arrests.
Meanwhile, the US is seeing a record number of illegal crossings on the southern border.
During fiscal year 2023, a record-breaking 2,475,669 migrant encounters were recorded along the Mexican border, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
Preliminary data shows more than 300,000 migrant encounters were recorded in December.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
