The Biden administration has responded to the viral video showing a large group of illegal immigrants charging Texas National Guard troops at the U.S. southern border on Thursday, telling The Daily Caller that former President Donald Trump is to blame for the “chaos.”
Video captured by The New York Post showed dozens of migrants overrunning National Guard troops who were stationed at the border in El Paso, Texas. The Post reported that around 600 migrants were illegally trying to enter the U.S. when the group of what appeared to be all men broke through razor wire and began shoving the soldiers.
This is the moment when TX National Guard became overrun by migrants rioting to get across the border here in El Paso today
We were there and saw it all happen. Absolute chaos here. pic.twitter.com/VN6Kf663ie
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024
“We are grateful for Border Patrol’s quick work to get the situation under control and apprehend the migrants,” a White House spokesman said in a statement to The Daily Caller on Friday.
“When the former President told Congressional Republicans to block the bipartisan border security agreement – he said to blame him for it. Well he got his wish, and the result was chaos after Governor Abbott’s Operational Lone Star and razorwire were overrun yesterday,” the statement added. “While we cannot comment on individual cases, anyone who does not have a legal basis to remain in the United States is promptly removed.”
Last month, House Republicans rejected a bill pushed by President Joe Biden and approved by the Senate that aimed to address certain border security issues. The Republicans’ rejection of the legislation came after Trump said “Only a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat” would vote for the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said in a joint statement that the Senate’s border bill “fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and would actually incentivize more illegal immigration.”
“Among its many flaws, the bill expands work authorizations for illegal aliens while failing to include critical asylum reforms,” the Republicans’ statement added. “Even worse, its language allowing illegals to be ‘released from physical custody’ would effectively endorse the Biden ‘catch and release’ policy.”
Texas is currently in a legal battle with the Biden administration over the state’s new immigration law that allows state law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally. The Biden administration argues that the law interferes with federal immigration law and violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, while proponents of Texas’ move to enforce immigration law say the state has a constitutional right and duty to protect itself from what it views as an invasion at the U.S. southern border.
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Texas’ immigration law is currently on hold, per the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, as litigation continues.
Since Biden took office, Border Patrol has reported around 9 million nationwide encounters, with 1.7 million estimated gotaways. Under the Trump administration, there were 415,000 total reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020.