Abbott Vows to Keep Building Border Barrier if Biden Federalizes Texas National Guard in ‘Bone-Headed Move’

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) told Tucker Carlson on Friday that Texas is “prepared” to continue building barriers at the border if the Biden administration federalizes the Texas National Guard — which he says would “shock” him and be a “bone-headed move” — to gain access to Shelby Park on the border, and surrounding areas. 

Friday marks the deadline for the state to give Border Patrol full access to a 2.5-mile stretch of land on the Rio Grande in and around Shelby Park. Department of Homeland Security General Counsel Jonathan Meyer laid out the deadline in a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday, as Breitbart News Texas’s Randy Clark reported:

The letter… directly addresses Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court order freeing the Border Patrol to cut wire and fencing installed by the state to gain access to the border under their statutory authority to enter private lands without warrant within 25 miles of the border. The 5-4 decision paused a lower court’s ruling that had previously blocked such action.

Abbott joined Carlson on Tucker Carlson Uncensored via a phone call from India amid the border showdown between the Lone Star State and the federal government. 

“If the administration declares that it plans to federalize the National Guard of the state of Texas, your National Guard, what will be your response?” Carlson wondered.

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Abbott, who in an open letter Wednesday said the “federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” said it is unlikely that will occur, though the state is “prepared.”

He detailed:

Well, first, I’ll be shocked. That would be a boneheaded move on his part; total disaster. For one, as you might imagine, we are prepared in the event that that unlikely event does occur to make sure that we will be able to continue exactly what we’ve been doing over the past month and that is building these barriers. Whether it be the concertina wire or other anti-climb border barriers, whatever we’ve been building, the Biden administration is now trying to attack us because of it, and we will continue to do exactly what we’re doing to expand our denial of illegal entry into the state of Texas.

Since the order on Monday, 25 states have announced their support of Texas’s mission to secure its own border. Abbott noted that currently, National Guard from other states are already at the border, “and you can be assured there will be more National Guard from other states and law enforcement officers within the state of Texas and other states.”

Abbott went on to note he would “be shocked and disappointed if almost all of” the 25 states that signed a letter of support did not send National Guard from their states to Texas. He revealed about ten states already have. 

Migrants wait in front of barbed wire as hundreds of migrants are attempting to reach the United States border to seek humanitarian asylum in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on December 29, 2023. (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)

When Carlson asked if he had spoken with the Biden administration “about what appears to be an imminent collision,” Abbott said he had not but noted he has discussed the border with Biden in the past and has sent a number of unreturned letters: 

I met him on a tarmac in El Paso and talked to him directly about what was going on. I handed him a letter that had in it immediate solutions that he could take that would immediately secure the border, without the need of any new law to be passed. Despite the fact that I handed him all-together eight different letters, he has refused to ever respond. My point I’m telling you is that we have laid down the precursor of what’s called Article Four, Section Four of the United States Constitution to show that we have been invaded and we have demanded support from the President to safeguard our state and they have refused to do so eight times. And that authorized me to declare an invasion under Article One, Section Ten of the Constitution to make sure that Texas is going to be able to use every tool in our arsenal to defend our state.

Carlson also asked for the governor’s thoughts on how the conflict will be resolved. Abbott, who has endorsed President Trump, pointed to the next presidential inauguration.

“I believe, however, that this will all come to an end on January 20th of next year because I believe a new president will be sworn in – a president who will actually enforce the immigration laws of the entire country, not just the Texas border,” he said.