Former President Donald Trump is calling on state governors to help Texas “repel the invasion” of illegal immigrants along America’s southern border.
“We encourage all willing states to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of Illegals, and to remove them back across the border,” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social, his social media platform.
“All Americans should support the commonsense measures by Texas authorities to protect the safety, security, and sovereignty of Texas, and of the American people,” he wrote.
The Republican governors of at least 16 other states have signaled their support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the standoff.
Supreme Court’s Order
Trump’s call for other governors to support Texas comes after the Supreme Court ruling Monday cleared the way for the Border Patrol and other federal authorities to cut and remove the razor wire installed by the Texas National Guard along the state’s border with Mexico.
The Supreme Court decided 5-4 against Texas’ position and in favor of the Biden administration.
An appeals court had temporarily blocked the federal government from removing the razor wire while the state’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security moved forward. But the high court ordered that Texas must allow federal border authorities to remove the wire used to block illegal aliens while the case advances through lower courts.
Although the Supreme Court gave no reasons for its order, it noted that four conservative justices—Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh—opposed President Joe Biden’s position.
Two others, Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, joined the high court’s three liberal justices—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—in siding with the Biden administration in the dispute.
Texas Governor’s Response
Texas has the “constitutional authority to defend and protect itself,” Abbott said in a public statement responding to the Supreme Court’s order.
The order doesn’t specify that Texas can’t continue to install razor wire, and Abbott, a Republican, said he intends to continue to seek to secure his state’s border with Mexico.
“Texas’ razor wire is an effective deterrent against the illegal border crossings encouraged by Biden’s open-border policies,” Abbott wrote on X two days after the Supreme Court issued its order. “We continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration.”
Abbott said Biden “has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting states, including immigration laws on the books right now.”
The Texas governor argued that because he already had declared the crisis at the southern border “an invasion,” he has constitutional authority to “defend and protect” his state from such an invasion.
GOP Governors ‘Stand With Texas’
Even before Trump’s call for support, many other Republican governors voiced their commitment to lock arms with Texas following the Supreme Court order. By Thursday evening, at least 16 had weighed in.
“Virginia stands with Texas,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wrote Wednesday night on X.
Abbott “is doing the job Joe Biden and his border czar refuse to do to secure our border,” Youngkin wrote. “The Biden administration has turned every state into a border state. We must stop the flow of fentanyl, save lives, and secure our southern border.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a similar statement on X on Wednesday evening.
“If the Constitution really made states powerless to defend themselves against an invasion, it wouldn’t have been ratified in the first place and Texas would have never joined the union when it did,” DeSantis wrote.
“TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it,” DeSantis added. “FL will keep assisting Texas with personnel and assets.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said that Abbott is acting within his constitutional authority.
Abbott “is exactly right to invoke Texas’ constitutional authority to defend itself,” Noem wrote on X. “The Biden administration has created a national security crisis and put Americans in danger. Their failure is an unconstitutional dereliction of duty.”
Idaho Gov. Brad Little said Thursday that his state also “stands with Texas.”
“The lawless southern border threatens the lives of all Americans, including Idahoans,” Little wrote on X. “Idaho will continue to step up, even when [Biden] won’t.”
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte this week voiced his support for Abbott’s efforts to secure the border multiple times on X, also writing that Abbott “is doing what [Biden] won’t.”
“Enough is enough,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp wrote on X. “Our southern border is in crisis thanks to the Biden administration’s refusal to do their job.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a post on X: “When the federal government fails, states step in. Iowa sent the Iowa National Guard and state troopers down to the border last year to stop this invasion.”
“If President Biden won’t defend us, states will have to defend themselves. Arkansas stands with Texas,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on X in response to Abbott’s own statement.
In a video message shared Thursday on X, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said: “We stand with Governor Abbott and Texas in reminding the federal government that under our Constitution, states are still sovereign and we have the right to protect our citizens.”
“The failure to secure our border has created a massive flow of illegal drugs, national security and terrorism risks, and a humanitarian crisis,” Gov. Jim Pillen said Thursday on X. “I was proud to order Nebraska state troopers and National Guard to the border last year, and Nebraska is proud to stand with Texas now.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum told followers on X that Abbott “deserves our thanks for taking action to stop illegal crossings and disrupt drug and human trafficking.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said his state has “long stood with Texas” and “won’t stop now.”
“Oklahoma stands with Texas,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a post on X.
“The federal government’s failure to secure our nation’s southern border is jeopardizing the safety of all Americans,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wrote. “Tennessee has always stood with Texas, and we always will.”
“Utah thanks Texas and Gov. Abbott for stepping up where the Biden administration has failed over and over again,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wrote Wednesday night on X.
Wyoming “stands in solidarity with Governor Abbott and the state of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy to secure the border and protect American citizens,” Gov. Mark Gordon wrote. “We are all border states now.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, also a Republican, told The Daily Signal that the Biden administration “is failing miserably at its core mission to faithfully enforce the nation’s immigration laws and defend our homeland.”
“West Virginia experiences the impact of this failure through massive fentanyl death overdose rates,” Morrisey said. “It’s not optional to protect the border. We must support Texas.”
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.