U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote a letter to Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott on Thursday in response to Abbott’s recent executive order.
Abbott signed an executive order this week restricting the flow of migrants into Texas due to COVID-19.
According to the governor’s website, Abbott signed the executive order “restricting ground transportation of migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19 into Texas communities.” It also “directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to stop any vehicle upon reasonable suspicion of such violation and reroute such vehicles back to its point of origin or a port of entry. DPS also has the authority to impound a vehicle that violates the Executive Order.”
In response, Attorney General Garland wrote his own letter to Abbott, saying that the order cannot be enforced, and pressed the governor to immediately take it back.
Garland wrote that the order “would jeopardize the health and safety of noncitizens in federal government custody, federal law enforcement personnel and their families, and our communities.”
He also stated that it “directly interferes with the implementation of federal immigration law.”
“Texas has no authority to interfere with the United States’ ‘broad, un-doubted power over the subject of immigration’ by impairing the United States’ release of individuals and the ability of those individuals to comply with federal immigration law,” Garland added.
Garland concluded his letter by saying that if Abbott does not rescind the order, he was providing notice that “the United States intends to pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.”
Abbott has been outspoken about the Biden administration’s unwillingness to combat the rise of illegal immigration and migrants crossing the Texas border into the United States.
Regarding the order, Abbott said, “The dramatic rise in unlawful border crossings has also led to a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases among unlawful migrants who have made their way into our state, and we must do more to protect Texans from this virus and reduce the burden on our communities.”
“This Executive Order will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities,” he added.
Abbott previously stated that he planned to build a barrier along the border of the state with Mexico since the Biden administration has mostly disregarded the immigration crisis at the southern border.
As The Daily Wire reported last month, Abbott said that he will be garnering public donations to fund the wall.
In a podcast interview with “Ruthless,” Abbott said that he would be creating a way for anyone to give funds to the creation of the barriers, as reported by The Hill.
“I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States or everybody in the entire world that wants to help Texas build a border wall. There will be a place on there where they can contribute to Texas building the border wall,” Abbott said.
The governor said that most people who are not from Texas or live in northern states, get information about the border from television, which tends to show many families and unaccompanied minors coming over the border. He said, however, that many of the people who are coming across the border are adults traveling alone — individuals who are not coming to the United States with good intentions.
He said that people who live in small towns near the border are being threatened and harassed every day and suggested that the Biden administration does not care about Texans being affected by the poor border security.
Abbott added that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have not called him to talk about the issue at the Texas border. He said they are “pretending that the Texas border does not exist.”