Texas Governor Greg Abbott condemned President Joe Biden for his inaction on the "worsening" border crisis that has allowed "importing COVID-19" into the United States with "extreme rates" via immigration.
In a statement released Friday, the state of Texas announced that Abbott has sent a letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding his Executive Order GA-37, which pertains to the transportation of migrants during the pandemic. Garland is said to be opposing the implementation of the executive order, which Abbott released last July 28.
Executive Order GA 37 specifically orders that no other person in Texas besides local enforcement officials, federal officials, or state officials are to provide migrants detained by the Customs Border Protection for crossing the border illegally or were subject to expulsion in lieu of Title 42 their ground transportation.
EO GA 37 specifically commands the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop any vehicle violating this order even on "reasonable suspicion." Vehicles may then be impounded if they refuse to stop or be rerouted by DPS. The executive order explains that it was enacted because of Biden's failure to "enforce the Title 42 order" and the Congress-enacted immigration laws.
Abbott pointed out to Garland in his two-page letter that his executive order does not "jeopardize the health and safety of noncitizens" as the latter purports it to. Instead, the order actually protects Texans from the COVID-19 virus being brought in the United States through the migrants Biden's Administration is allowing to enter the border and is transporting to various facilities in the state.
Abbott also raised that demands to stop the implementation of the executive order "conflicts with" his authority and mandate as governor of Texas to protect the health and safety of its citizens. He also pointed out that the Biden Administration itself his conflicting with its own constitutional mandate of protecting Americans' health and safety by preventing him in implementing his executive order.
"Your actions, combined with the actions and omissions of the Biden Administration, directly conflict with my authority as Governor; and, candidly, conflict with the duty and obligation imposed on the Biden Administration to apply and enforce the immigration laws passed by the United States Congress," Abbott told Garland in the letter.
"The Biden Administration is failing and refusing to enforce immigration laws by allowing migrants to unlawfully enter into the United States. No doubt, the Constitution authorizes the federal government, not states, to administer the immigration process," he added. "However, the Constitution does not allow the Biden Administration to fabricate its own immigration laws. Instead, the Administration is limited to applying laws enacted by Congress."
In addition, Abbott also pointed out that Biden is doing nothing about the matter despite knowing that the migrants have the virus and therefore knows the risk Americans face in getting the disease because of it.
"Worse, the Biden Administration is knowingly admitting hundreds of thousands of unauthorized migrants, many of whom the federal government knows full well have COVID-19. To be clear, the Biden Administration is knowingly importing COVID-19 into Texas from across the border and knowingly exposing Texans and Americans to that disease," Abbott pointed out.
"While the Biden Administration is openly pondering looming shutdowns and mandates on U.S. citizens to control the spread of COVID-19, at the same time the Administration is knowingly worsening the problem by importing COVID-19 at extreme rates," Abbott pointed out.
Abbott identified "several actions" that the federal government may undertake while his executive order is in implementation.
First is to limit the entry of unauthorized migrants into the United States through "federally owned or operated land only, such as the facilities that are already in operation. He also suggested that migrants' infected with the virus should be minimally transported into Texas towns and cities. Lastly, he said Biden "could simply enforce the existing federal immigration laws and stop admitting migrants who are not authorized by Congress to be admitted" into the United States.
In closing his letter, Abbott highlighted his office's commitment to work with the Department of Justice so that the laws of the state and the United States would be implemented accordingly with the same goal of preventing the "importation of COVID-19" into American soil.
