Between migrant facilities and the border wall, the state of Texas has been butting heads with the Biden Administration since the beginning of the year. The Biden Administration recently threatened to pursue legal action if Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t rescind a recent order that would shut down the federally funded migrant facilities. The federally funded facilities are currently housing 4,223 unaccompanied children out of the 7,000 children who crossed the U.S-Mexico border.
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services deputy general counsel wrote a letter to Abbott telling him that even though the state issues the shelter licenses, Congress was tasked with caring for the children. He warned Abbott not to interfere with the “system” and to clarify his order by June 11 to the 52 shelters that are licensed by the state. He said that shutting down the shelters would force the government to face “capacity problems” in housing and processing thousands of children.
Abbott criticized the Biden Administration for their “unwillingness, ambivalence, or inability” to fix the situation at the border. He previously demanded Vice President Kamala Harris shut down a migrant facility in San Antonio following claims of sexual assault, bullying, understaffing, and disregard for COVID-19 protocols.
“Our repeated warnings and questions have gone ignored by President Biden, yourself, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas. You have a duty to these children and the American people to act immediately. I implore you to act immediately to protect these children, secure the border, and end this crisis,” Abbott wrote in a letter to Harris.
Abbott also notes that the Biden Administration has failed to secure the border, adding that Texas will construct its own border barriers. He said he is done waiting for the Democrat White House to solve the problem. “The influx across the border is out of control, and the Biden Administration has shown that it is not going to step up and do its job,” he said.
Abbott announced that with more reports of people coming across the border, they want to be “very aggressive” in working with local officials and making arrests. He said that the state wanted to make things clear that illegal immigrants will not get a “free pass to the U.S,” but a straight pass to a jail cell.
“Texas already has done more than any other state to secure the border, but we know that more has to be done. And we’re stepping up to undertake an unprecedented response to the border crisis caused by the federal government,” Gov. Abbott said.
The federal emergency intake centers, which aren’t licensed by the state, still house the majority of immigrant children in the state and have seen the most population growth in recent months. Abbott said that the federal government is commandeering state resources and pressuring Texas to aid its illegal immigration program. He called it a violation of the U.S Constitution and said that the Biden Administration will be responsible for the care of the children while Texas remains on protecting Texans.
The Biden Administration’s refusal to address the border crisis is making things worse on a daily basis. And now, they have opened dozens of costly facilities to ease the overcrowded, but have not yet solved the capacity issues completely. They’ve only drained the state of resources and funding. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that the Biden Administration’s Border Czar, VP Harris, refuses to visit the border herself.
