Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has a message for Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador who's looking to get involved in the Texas gubernatorial election by making comments perceived as an endorsement of Beto O'Rourke. "If you want to come have a skirmish with Texas, you can meet us in San Jacinto," he said to laughter and calls of "amen" in agreement, in reference to the victory Texas secured against Mexico at San Jacinto in 1836 so as to declare its victory.
.@RepChipRoy to Mexican President Obrador:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 15, 2022
"If you want to come have a skirmish with Texas, you can meet us in San Jacinto." pic.twitter.com/cf0djyDscN
"To listen to Mexican President Obrador say he's gonna endorse Beto O'Rourke, over my governor, Governor Abbott, because he's daring to secure the border, take steps to secure the border," Rep. Roy said before mentioning San Jacinto. His comments came during a Friday press conference organized by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX).
President López Obrador made the remarks in question during a press conference last Friday, according to a July 12 piece from Border Report:
Towards the end of a more-than-two-hour news conference Friday, a reporter asked Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for his thoughts on Abbott’s executive order authorizing members of the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety to detain and drop off migrants at ports of entry.
Lopez Obrador called the order immoral and inhumane and a political stunt.
“Indeed, he is overstepping the limits. He is not in a position, legally, to make such a decision,” Lopez Obrador said of Abbott, adding that immigration enforcement is in the purview of the U.S. federal government.
“There are elections in November, so they’re looking to sensationalize this,” Lopez Obrador said in Spanish. “They cannot count on us because, even though we are respectful of the sovereignty of the countries, we don’t support that there are anti-immigrant campaigns for electoral purposes. I consider it immoral … political.”
On Friday afternoon, Abbott’s campaign spokesman issued a statement likening Lopez Obrador to O’Rourke, the Democratic challenger in the race for governor of Texas.
“It’s not surprising that the pro-open border President of Mexico is endorsing Beto O’Rourke, the pro-open border candidate for Texas Governor,” wrote Mark Miner, the communications director for the Texans for Abbott campaign. “While Beto O’Rourke and President López Obrador don’t believe there’s a problem at our southern border, deadly fentanyl continues to ravage communities throughout Texas and America. Governor Abbott will continue utilizing all available resources to secure our Southern border, including building the wall, deploying the Texas National Guard and DPS Troopers, and delivering illegal immigrants back to the border.”
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“If there is a candidate, a party that mistreats migrants and mistreats Mexicans, we are going to ask our countrymen to help us there so that we do not vote for those parties and for those candidates,” Lopez Obrador said.
President Joe Biden met with the Mexican president on Tuesday at the White House, who had also met with Vice President Kamala Harris at the Naval Observatory.
"Biden created the worst border crisis in DHS history, but does not care to visit the border to see the dire consequences of his agenda. Biden and Democrats are only making this humanitarian crisis worse, refuse to change course, and will pay the price at the ballot box in November," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in response to the visit.
In addition to record-high border crossings, fentanyl has been seized at the southern border, which is responsible for the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45.
During his meeting with Biden, President Obrador invited Americans to come to his country to buy gas, something Californians have already been doing, rather than pay for the highest gas in the nation, an average cost of $6.00 per gallon or close to it, though some stations charge close to $8.00 or even $9.00 a gallon in the state.