Texas Governor: ‘Mayorkas is Pathetic’ for Blaming Record Border Crossings on Climate Change

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “is pathetic” in response to the secretary’s comments on MSNBC blaming the record-shattering December migrant apprehensions on climate change.

“The REAL reason illegal immigration records are being set is because Biden refuses to enforce immigration laws,” Abbott added.

During the month of December, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 250,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry. Of those, more than 125,000 of those were apprehended in the five Texas-based border sectors, Breitbart Texas reported.

In an interview on MSNBC, linked above, Mayorkas was asked why more migrants entered the U.S. illegally than in any other month in the history of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mayorkas responded with a litany of excuses, blaming everything except his administration’s refusal to enforce the immigration and border security laws of this nation and apply effective consequences to those who break these laws.

During the interview, Mayorkas actually charged Governor Abbott with a “remarkable failure of governance” relating to the ever-increasing border crisis.

“Let me identify one fundamental problem here,” the secretary continued. “That is the fact that we have one governor, in the state of Texas, who is refusing to cooperate with other governors and other local officials to coordinate efforts to address a challenge that this county … is facing. And its a remarkable failure of governance to refuse to cooperate with fellow local and state officials.”

The secretary appeared to be attacking Governor Abbott’s policy of transporting migrants who are released by Mayorkas’ DHS officials into Texas border communities to other self-described sanctuary cities across the nation.

Since Governor Abbott’s migrant busing (and now flying) program began in 2022, the State of Texas has transported just over 95,000 migrants to Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. Last month alone, Mayorkas’ Border Patrol agents apprehended (and mostly released) more than 125,000 migrants in the five Texas-based border sectors.

In just the week before Christmas, Del Rio Sector agents apprehended more than 22,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry, Breitbart Texas reported. Of those, Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Juan Bernal reported the sector placed only 2,000 migrants into the process for immediate removal pathways.

Rather than help Texas secure its border with Mexico, the Biden administration continues to attempt to interfere with the state’s efforts. This week, the Biden DOJ asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the Border Patrol to remove razor-wire border barriers the State of Texas put in place. The DOJ also threatened to sue the State of Texas if it begins enforcing a new law making it a state crime to enter Texas illegally from Mexico. That law is scheduled to go into effect in March.

In December, a federal court ordered the State of Texas to remove floating border barriers in response to a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration.

In September, Governor Abbott warned sanctuary city mayors to “gear up” as “more migrant buses are on the way,” after migrant numbers began to expand — once again.

“Until President Biden upholds his constitutional duty to secure America’s southern border, Texas will continue to deploy as many buses as needed to relieve the strain caused by the surge of illegal crossings,” Abbott said at the time.

Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apprehension numbers for December come from unofficial Border Patrol reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. The numbers are subject to change in official reports when they are released. The December Southwest Land Border Encounters report is due to be released by mid-January.