During his Saturday, January 27, 2024 Campaign rally in Las Vegas, former President Donald Trump praised Governor Abbott of Texas and pledged to unleash the federal government to secure the border once he is elected president. Particularly, Trump vowed to provide aid to border states rather than fighting with them over their attempts to secure the border.
As background, Trump’s comments come amidst Gov. Abbott’s battle with the Biden Administration over the southern border. Texas has, in response to the government’s insouciant handling of the border crisis, deployed National Guard units to erect barbed wire border barriers, deploy water barriers in the Rio Grande, and empowered police officers to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
The Biden Administration responded with a lawsuit, as it wanted the power to cut the barbed wire border barriers, and the Supreme Court ruled in its favor, precipitating the current crisis. Gov. Abbott and the Texas National Guard responded by vowing to continue erecting the border defenses despite the ruling and Biden’s demands.
Trump then took time during his Las Vegas rally to support Texas and its efforts to defend the border. Taking a stand in favor of Gov. Abbott and Texas’ border defense efforts, former President Trump told the crowd of supporters, “When I’m president, instead of trying to send Texas a restraining order, I will send them reinforcements.”
Continued, he vowed to unleash the full weight of the federal government’s resources to defend the southern border and stop what he characterized as an “invasion.” He said, “Instead of fighting border states, I will use every resource tool and authority of the U.S. president to defend the United States of America from this horrible invasion that is taking place right now.”
He also said, tearing into the alleged deal being struck in the Senate over border defense and foreign aid, “The so-called border security deal Biden is gushing out and pushing out is not designed to stop illegal immigration. It’s designed to continue the invasion of America while sending billions of dollars to Ukraine and other countries.”
Continuing, Trump added that any bill is superfluous because the president can already lock down and secure the border with previously passed laws and granted powers, saying, “The fact is that if Joe Biden truly wanted to secure the border, he doesn’t really need a bill. I didn’t need a bill. I did it without a bill. I did it with the current laws. I used Border Patrol.”
Then, the former president added, “There is zero chance I will support this horrible open-border betrayal of America. It’s not going to happen. And I’ll fight it all the way.” He also said, “[The Senate was] getting ready to pass a very bad bill and I’ll tell you what. I’d rather have no bill than a bad bill. And that’s what was happening in the House…[House Speaker Mike Johnson] said it’s dead on arrival in the House. We want either a strong bill or no bill.”
Watch him here:
By U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Hurricane Harvey Response, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65722514
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