Elena Martinez
The Biden administration has offered a response to the widely circulated video depicting a significant number of undocumented immigrants rushing Texas National Guard troops at the U.S. southern border on Thursday, attributing the “chaos” to former President Donald Trump.
Footage captured by The New York Post exhibited scores of migrants overpowering National Guard troops stationed at the border in El Paso, Texas. According to The Post, approximately 600 migrants were attempting to enter the U.S. illegally when a group comprised mainly of men breached razor wire barriers and engaged in altercations with the soldiers.
In a statement provided to The Daily Caller, the administration remarked, “When the former President urged Congressional Republicans to obstruct the bipartisan border security agreement, he effectively assumed responsibility for any resulting turmoil. Governor Abbott’s Operational Lone Star initiative and the employment of razor wire were compromised yesterday, as Trump wished.” The statement continued, “While refraining from commenting on individual incidents, individuals lacking a legal basis for staying in the United States are promptly repatriated.”
Last month, House Republicans rebuffed a bill championed by President Joe Biden and endorsed by the Senate aimed at addressing specific border security concerns. This rejection followed Trump’s assertion that “Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat” would endorse the bill.
In a joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) criticized the Senate’s border bill, asserting it “fails in every policy area necessary to secure our border and would, in fact, incentivize further illegal immigration.” They added, “Among its myriad flaws, the bill expands work authorizations for undocumented migrants while neglecting crucial asylum reforms. Furthermore, its provisions allowing for the ‘release from physical custody’ of undocumented individuals would effectively endorse the Biden administration’s ‘catch and release’ approach.”
Texas is presently embroiled in a legal dispute with the Biden administration over the state’s new immigration law, which empowers state law enforcement to apprehend migrants crossing the border unlawfully. The administration argues that the law encroaches upon federal immigration statutes and violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Conversely, proponents of Texas’ enforcement of immigration law contend that the state possesses a constitutional right and obligation to safeguard itself against what it perceives as an incursion at the U.S. southern border.
The enforcement of Texas’ immigration law has been temporarily halted by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as legal proceedings unfold.
Since assuming office, Border Patrol has recorded approximately 9 million encounters nationwide, with an estimated 1.7 million instances of individuals evading detection. In comparison, the Trump administration reported a total of 415,000 instances of individuals evading detection across 2018, 2019, and 2020.
