Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is warning President Joe Biden to “get out” of the state’s way, suggesting he back off from interfering with the Texas National Guard taking action against the ongoing border crisis.
On Thursday, in response to the Biden Administration giving Texas 24 hours to vacate the Eagle Pass region, Patrick said the president is making a grave mistake by giving Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) an ultimatum as the Lonestar State insists it has the right to secure the southern border if Biden continues to refuse to.
“The biggest mistake the Biden Administration could make would be confronting law enforcement or our military, our National Guard, at our border, at this park, when we’re actually doing the job that the American people want,” Patrick told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “So if they come down and create a situation all of America already knows now, they will clearly see that the Democrats are willing to take on a state that is operating under our constitutional the Democrats are willing to take on a state that is operating under our constitutional right to protect our people.”
Patrick reminded the audience that Texas is doing the job that Biden has refused to do: protecting the United State’s southern border. He asserted that the president has turned his immigration crisis into a “political battle.”
Several states, including Oklahoma and Florida, have vowed to stand with Texas and send their National Guard and equipment to the state. In addition, twenty-five governors have expressed their support of Texas’s efforts to halt the flow of illegal migrants from entering the U.S.
Ingraham questioned Patrick on what type of work Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops would do once they are at the border.
“Let me tell you what we’re doing the job, if Joe Biden will get out of our way, we’ll do the job, we’ll secure the border, we don’t need them,” Patrick said. “And also, let me say something about this Border Patrol. Border Patrol works with us, the rank and file, every day. We work together like this. It’s Joe Biden who wants to come in and split us apart. For what reason?”
He argued that the Biden Administration is trying to make securing the border a fight while Republicans just want to put an end to illegal immigration.
“We’re trying to protect our border. We’re trying to protect American lives in Texas laws. That’s what we’re trying to do. And he’s trying to turn into a political battle and turn it into a fight with our state. Well, don’t mess with Texas,” Patrick said.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Biden Administration could remove razor wire from Texas’s border, which was put in place by state officials to help combat the heavy flow of illegal aliens crossing the border.
Abbott has refused to allow the Biden Administration to destroy his efforts to save his state and secure the border. In a statement defending his decision not to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling, Abbott argued that Texas has a “constitutional right to self-defense.”