Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has been taking heat from Democrats and progressives after he announced the state will be completely reopening and the mask mandate will be lifted. His actions have caused such a stir that it prompted criticism from President Joe Biden.
Biden, referring to both Texas and Mississippi, said lifting the COVID-19 lockdowns was "neanderthal thinking" and a "big mistake."
Abbott was asked to respond to Biden's comments during his interview on "Fox & Friends" on Thursday.
"Two things, Brian, first, obviously it is not the type of thing that a president should be saying, but second, he kind of said it on the worst day he could have. Because the same day he said that, in Texas, the Biden administration was releasing illegal immigrants into our communities who had COVID," Abbott said.
"The Biden administration was spreading COVID in south Texas yesterday because of their lack of constraint of testing and quarantining, people come across the border illegally. The Biden administration was exposing Texas to COVID," Abbott continued. "That is a neanderthal type approach dealing with the COVID situation."
NBC News reported some of the asylum seekers who turned themselves into Border Patrol and were dropped off at a bus station in Brownsville, Texas, have tested positive for COVID-19, but many still chose to board buses to head further into the United States. The city, which has been providing rapid COVID-19 tests, said they do not have the authority to detain the migrants. In addition to those immigrants, U.S. border officials have seen a dramatic increase of unaccompanied minors being taken across the U.S.-Mexico border.