2024-01-29 10:24:11
MONDE – Is the US presidential election of November 2024 currently being played out in Texas? The Supreme Court’s decision last week against the governor of this state, Greg Abbott, relating to the removal of kilometers of barbed wire along the border with Mexico, has sparked an outcry. Republican governors from 25 states expressed solidarity with their colleague from Texas and his efforts to “protecting American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists”. Beyond the standoff between Greg Abbott and the American Supreme Court, the migration issue is mobilizing Republicans behind Donald Trump to weaken the Democrats ten months before the presidential elections.
Since 2021, the state of Texas has been implementing a vast program to combat the influx of migrants, including members of the cartels and their hundreds of millions of doses of Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate that causes tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States. Under the program, known as Operation Lone Star, thousands of National Guard members and Texas Department of Public Safety officers were deployed to the Mexican border.
The Texas revolt against the federal government
These measures were accompanied by the installation of barriers and barbed wire, as well as the installation of a floating barrier on the Rio Grande in July 2023. The situation at the border is extremely serious and 300,000 migrants are entered the United States just in December of last year. The number of asylum seekers will reach more than 2.4 million during 2023 and Greg Abbott sees this crisis at the border as a consequence of Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
He also signed laws authorizing the police to arrest then expel migrants who entered the United States illegally. A Democrat-led plan to transport migrants to others was also implemented.
Measures quickly denounced by the Democrats and the Biden administration. “This governor is treating the situation at the border inhumanely. The decisions he is making are atrocious” said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. “Rather than addressing the problem by working together to find a solution, he is turning it into a political stunt.”she laments.
The Department of Justice also reacted, announcing in July 2023 a lawsuit against the State of Texas following several drownings. Last Monday, the Supreme Court approved the Biden administration’s project by authorizing the Border Patrol, a federal agency dependent on Washington, to destroy the facilities set up.
A decision very poorly received by Greg Abbott, who affirmed that he would not comply with the decision of the highest American court, but that his staff would continue to install barbed wire. He claims that control of the border lies with local Texas authorities and not the federal government, an argument that the Supreme Court rightly rejected.
The Texas governor also blamed the federal government “for having broken his pact with the States”. In a letter released on Wednesday January 24, 2024, he criticizes Joe Biden for not having applied the immigration laws in force : “The result is that he has broken records in terms of illegal immigration. President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute the immigration laws enacted by Congress. Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, he sent his lawyers to the federal courts to sue Texas for taking measures to secure the border.
Greg Abbott points out that “Biden’s lawless border policies” have caused the illegal arrival of “more than 6 million illegal immigrants in just three years.”
Immigration, the fatal blow to Biden?
The standoff took a national turn. Twenty-five other Republican governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida, expressed solidarity with Abbott in a statement. They praise “his efforts to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering the country.”
But the question of immigration takes on another issue, particularly for Republicans, as the elections approach. Since October 2023, the White House has been requesting an additional budget of $105 billion from Congress to respond to international crises (Ukraine, Middle East) as well as illegal immigration. But the shadow of Donald Trump, presidential candidate in November 2024, hangs over the discussions between Joe Biden and the Republicans.
Immigration is one of the top issues on Donald Trump’s agenda according to voter surveys, and the former President is urging his colleagues in the Grand Old Party to oppose any deal to discredit his 2020 rival. The latter said he was considering the possibility of acceding to the Republicans’ conditions regarding the arrival of refugees, but such a maneuver risks arousing the ire of the Democrats. Questions remain unresolved, such as the conditional release of migrants.
As negotiations continue, the White House is increasing contacts with Mexican authorities to dismantle migrant smugglers from Mexico.
On the eve of his victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary, Donald Trump openly criticized Joe Biden, his foreign policy and the situation on the Mexican border.
Donald Trump described Thursday January 25 as “gift” any potential agreement. “A border deal now would be another gift to radical left Democrats. They need it politically, but don’t care about our border. The work the Senate is working on will make no sense in terms of security and border closures”he lamented.
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