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Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb stood alongside Texas’ border with Mexico on Sunday with a dozen other governors as Lone Star State Gov. Greg Abbott promised to expand his border strategy.
“Texas will … expand the area where we are using that self-defense to make sure we are able to better protect our communities,” Abbott said at a news conference at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass.
The park is central to Abbott’s clash with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
Federal border patrol agents want access to the park—a common crossing point for migrants—but Texas has taken control of the park and denied them entry, according to the Associated Press.
Abbott and a growing number of Republican governors say Biden’s administration isn’t doing enough to stem the flow of unauthorized migrants. They cite a clause in the U.S. Constitution banning states from keeping troops or waging war unless they’re “actually invaded” or in “imminent danger.”
“I’m proud to join so many fellow governors in support (of) Governor Abbott and appreciate receiving an up-to-date, real-time … briefing from those on the front lines who see this humanitarian crisis up close,” Holcomb said in a statement Sunday.
“If unregulated immigration continues to transpire, we governors will continue to deal with the after-effects inside our home states,” added Holcomb, who didn’t speak at the news conference.
He advocated for first stopping the flow of unauthorized migrants and then “passing a legal efficient immigration policy that actually will contribute to a needed and healthy workforce.”
Holcomb previously signed on to a 25-governor statement declaring solidarity with Texas’ strategies, including the use of razor wire.
Abbott said that national guard troops have erected more than 100 miles of sharp razor wire as a barrier along the border.
That, he said, had cut crossings at the park from thousands of people daily to a three-day average of just three crossers.
Federal officials say the razor wire blocks their patrols and injures migrants. Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly voted to allow border patrol agents to cut the wire while a lawsuit over it continues, the Associated Press reported.
Abbott promised to expand the area covered as the governors of Tennessee and Arkansas vowed to send more national guard troops of their own.
Biden, meanwhile, has promised to “shut down the border” when it becomes “overwhelmed” if granted a “new emergency authority” in a bipartisan border security bill. He said he’d use that authority the same day he signs the legislation into law, according to a statement late last month.
Abbott rejected that offer on Sunday, telling reporters he believes Biden already has the authority to “shut down the border.”
No state dollars were used in the visit, according to Holcomb’s office. His administration gave no further details.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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Maybe he’ll stay in Texas.
+1
Shame on Governor Holcomb for pandering to the unconstitutional antics of Texas.
he doesn’t care anymore now that he’s a sitting duck
Texas isn’t doing anything wrong by securing their own borders. There’s an article in the constitution that clearly states that if the federal government doesn’t help defend or support the states, then it is that states rights to defend and protect itself. No different when there’s a natural disaster like hurricane damage or tornado damage to a state and the government sends aid to help that state. What’s the difference here I ask?
Look this article up for yourself
Article 1, section 10, clause 3 of the constitution.
Republicans need to make their mind up. Either they’re tired of the president acting like a King, or they can actually be part of the functioning government and pass border reforms which they haven’t done for decades.
Their recent behavior of insisting that aid to Israel and the Ukraine is tied to border reforms, but only if they get 100% of they want, is laughable. They’re clearly not interested in doing anything. This has been their strategy since 2008, and they keep doing it because people keep falling for it.
(Go ahead and deny. Tell me how “Repeal and Replace” is going.)
They have one half of Congress. They’re going to have to compromise, and they don’t have leverage to insist on it being their way or the highway. Most people are raised by parents who disavow their kids of that when they’re toddlers.
They’re deeply unserious people who have wasted the money of the taxpayers who elected them. I’m thankful that my representative Greg Pence finally accomplished what he was after (a government pension), but even I recognize it won’t change anything.
Republicans are only, and I mean only, two things. 1) Deeply unintelligent and 2) emotionally-stunted hypocrites. They will screech “fiscal responsibility” while blowing up the deficit so their rich buddies can have tax breaks. There are no good Republicans, Republicans hate America and its freedoms.
National sovereignty is neither a Democrat or Republican issue, this is about the rule of law and the US Constitution is the Supreme law granted by the people to the Federal Government!
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Who paid for this trip?
And to think I thought he was bigger than this..
Surprise–he’s not. Down to his cowboy boots, he’s a Trumper.
The last thing these GOP politicians want is to solve the border problems. It’s the only thing that keeps them in office.
Subtract “the border” and you’re on to today’s GOP. Keeping people angry while giving the wealthy another tax cut that their base voter pays for.
The only thing ensuring a viable Democrat future is to usher in hordes of illegals, grant them amnesty and citizenship, then they’ll vote for the donkey party till kingdom come as they replace the native-born lawful cities.
Yikes, did I use the word “replace”? Naughty me–I must be an extremist. 🙂
Lauren, you told me a year ago about how all the folks from Central American countries were, come to find out, voting Republican because they weren’t happy with Democrats on same sex marriage and abortion and their border policies.
Make up your mind.
The new swing vote: Why more Latino voters are joining the GOP
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2022/1021/The-new-swing-vote-Why-more-Latino-voters-are-joining-the-GOP
Democrats also don’t need to enter into some conspiracy to win votes – Republicans are pretty unpopular and haven’t won the popular vote nationally since 2004, and before that 1996. Republicans can only win because rural votes count more than urban ones and through partisan gerrymandering.
Joe–
Per usual, since you derive your entire understanding of the world from legacy media sources, you think the Dems aren’t hedging their bets that they can overpower the weakening stronghold they have over the Latino vote with…ever more illegals. It really does touch a nerve when I criticize your dearly beloved donkey party, doesn’t it? Even though I hold almost as great contempt for the crooks in the GOP.
I mean, the goal has been “turn Texas purple” for decades. It’s not working, but that’s why A) they’re happy shipping the illegals to other vulnerable states like Virginia and Pennsylvania (where the white population is more establishment-friendly) or B) letting Arizona take them in in lieu of Texas, or C) pulling from other countries than just Latin America to get their illegal voters. Haiti, Congo, China. You name it. Anywhere but Cuba, for obvious reasons.
We know Elon Musk’s statements are true because the Dems call them “lies” and “vile”. Of COURSE it’s what they’re doing Isn’t civil war nice? Why do y’all continue gelding your children and murdering one another in your opioid infested urban outhouses? Don’t you get tired of watching your strongholds devolve into Third World conditions?
Don’t get me wrong: I still despise the Nikki Haley GOP, but then, of course, Nikki Haley is basically Hillary Clinton with a bit more melanin. War, war, war and more war and corporate handouts to the biggest corporate contributors–those are what disgust me. So right-wing of me.
Lauren – Democrats traded a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers for aid for Ukraine and Israel.
Explain to me why if Democrats wanted to turn states like Texas purple, they would have abandoned the group of citizens that Americans have the most empathy for, people who were brought here as infants or children and have been law abiding members of society ever since.
They gave Republicans a whole bunch of what they wanted. They made it harder to apply for asylum. They shut down the border entirely to everyone if too many people show up.
And Republicans still turned down the deal. Because Republicans have no interest in solving any crisis, they just want people like you to trust them instead of doing their own research. How’s that working out for you?
Your Republicans were in control for four years. All you got was a tax cut for the wealthy that left folks like me paying more and a packed judiciary courtesy of the Federalist Society, who give folks like you the red meat of punching down on someone as long as you keep giving the rich a lower tax rate.
What happened to all the infrastructure that was going to be built? What happened to repeal and replace of Obamacare?
MAGA Republicans been in control of the House for two years. All they’ve done is make the sinking of the Titanic seem better organized and less dysfunctional.
At what point are you going to realize you’ve been played? That if they get back in charge, all they’re gonna do is do the same thing again. More tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by folks like you and me, and you get the jollies of watching some minuscule marginalized group get punched down on. Then, when it’s time to pay for those tax cuts, it’s some service that you’re counting on that gets cut. Is that honestly worth the LOLs?
Maybe that’s your thing. You honestly don’t care about anything that happens, you just wanna blow it all up like that “really sharp” Steve Bannon. You know, the one who put wants to put atheists like you in camps.
You should try the legacy media. You might learn things, like “Donald Trump released a higher percentage of migrants than Joe Biden”.
https://www.cato.org/blog/new-data-show-migrants-were-more-likely-be-released-trump-biden
Why doesn’t Governor Holcomb do his part by going after the employers in our state that hire undocumented immigrants? Perhaps because this is all an election-year show and he knows those workers are a boon to business and critical to to our state’s workforce?
Because Governor Holcomb is a garden variety neo-con.
The Dems want the illegals so they can stuff the ballot box.
The neocons want the illegals so they can exploit their labor in their corporations.
And, increasingly, the interests of neocons and Dems converge so that they are indistinguishable.
Holcomb doesn’t really care if Indiana takes on a million more invaders. He just recognizes that the machinery of the GOP won’t chug along as easily with both his current electorate and all those future Dem voters coming from across the Rio Grande.
Hence, the “swamp”, the “deep state”, the “uniparty”.
Lauren, if you can actually prove, with facts, not “alternative facts,” that ballot-box-stuffing is going on…please…tell us. Where. How. Ya look ridiculous.
Rick–
Do you think that, if the polls had closed at 5pm on Election Tuesday with Democrats comfortably ahead throughout the day…and then suddenly, in the middle of the night, a flood of GOP suddenly resulted in a 4am switcheroo, you think you wouldn’t call shenanigans? It happens in one direction. Every single time. And since half the GOP are uniparty who fully support it, they say “Wait. Stop.” with the same vigor as Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka when Augustus Gloop is bending over to drink from the chocolate stream.
It’s rigging. From the party who gave us Tammany Hall, dead voters, and Jim Crow. They do it very, very well. If it ever happened in the other direction, there would be riots. Like Democrats do on days ending in Y.
While he had the chance Gov. Holcomb could have called on House Republicans to pass the bipartisan Senate bill that would have significantly reduced illegal border crossings. But he didn’t do that. Instead, he aligned himself with the Texas governor who disses a SCOTUS ruling and gives the GOP red meat to feed its extremist base. Just another sign Holcomb is in over his head.
Is Jack Enright of Enright Digital part of the California “extremist base” for unintentionally capturing a boat full of “migrants” arriving near the coast of San Diego, right past a naval base, filled with huddled masses yearning to be free, for whom the government does absolutely nothing to stop it?
Even Malibu is kind of dumpy these days, Brent. It’s awfully funny watching you remain in thrall with the legacy media spin. How much of its staff did the LA Times just cut?
Do you have a picture of Gavin on your refrigerator?
Meanwhile, just this morning Mike Johnson rejected the bipartisan Senate bill that was sent to him to address border issues, Ukraine support, and Israel support, but he is declining to even let it go to the floor. They don’t give a single crap about anything they’re howling about, it’s all performative.
Good for Mike Johnson. The “bipartisan” bill was table scraps for the border, attached to huge heaps more to help out the perpetual welfare states of Ukraine and Israel.
“Ugh, this started to address the border and defends democratic sovereignty to our allies. Better kill it!”
bUt WhY wOn’T jOe FiX tHe BoRdEr. The call is coming from inside the house, sweetie.
Btdubs, it is SAD that you think Mike Johnson, the guy whose son monitors his pornographic behavior on an app, is in any way qualified to be Speaker. Dude is an authoritarian creep and you are very much a fool for believing/supporting him.
The normies who infest this site are good for a laugh, so utterly guileless they are in lapping up whatever swill the Associated Press and Washington Post feed them. I bet you most of them are part of the <10% who got another COVID jibby jab over the winter. Does it terrify these humanoids that so many people are rejecting their beloved news sources, to the tune of 10s of thousands more journalist layoffs in just the last two months?
Almost as hilarious as believing that pork-filled "border security" bill was going to amount to anything: it was table scraps for the border and more mountains of benjamins to the Ukrainian/Israeli toilets.
Lots of extreme left wing comments here. I suppose the squad would be impressed…
“Republicans are lying, they haven’t don’t a thing to address the issue in a meaningful way.” – Everyone
“Wow, you’re a bunch of radical leftists.” – You
You need to realize how dumb you sound.
Lots of extreme left wing comments here. I suppose the squad would be impressed…I have found that Governor Holcomb and his wife Janet have been stellar! Have a great day.
How can Democrats possibly defend Biden’s performance on the border. More than a million have crossed illegally this year and the majority just receive a piece of paper that tells them to report a few years down the road. There is absolutely no ability to follow up that they do appear. The proposed immigration law still allows up to 5,000 a day to come across illegally. Is this a solution?
Tell us you didn’t read the bill and just read the conservative media coverage of it … without telling us.
Joe: so, we’re supposed to believe the legacy media spin, rather than believing our lying eyes (it’s a bunch of actors using a green screen to LOOK like the Rio Grande!)? By their own admission, the legacy media actively coordinate with the Biden Administration. Oliver Darcy has bragged about this 2 years ago. They have press briefings in Delaware where Biden-friendly sources get privileged engagement with KJP and her team.
You’re so much smarter than us–can you distill it for us so our reptilian brains can understand? CNN is way too intellectual for me. That Jim Acosta and all his acuity–he’s not just a teenage heartthrob.
Do your own research, Lauren. Figure out that a bill that has progressive Democrats howling and the far right complaining it’s not enough is probably a decent compromise.
Of course, you’re a fan of the extremists so that’s a dirty word. You’d rather have a border crisis than make any progress.
The immigration problem on our southern border is a big one, and is very like the problem Italy has with immigrants from across the Mediterranean. The problem is a difficult one and requires a carefully thought out solution.
The problem on our border is not an invasion. If you are using the word invasion you should be thinking of what the Russians are doing to Ukraine. Think tanks, artillery, drones, small arms fire, air power and such. Governor Abbott uses the word to try to misuse our constitution for his political advantage.
Governor Holcomb would have done more for Hoosiers and our nation if, instead of going to Texas, he had gone to Washington and urged Speaker Johnson to work with the Senate’s compromise on the issue for a needed solution.
I am surprised and disappointed by his decision to do as he did.
Nailed it, Walter!
It is an invasion. It is financed. It is deliberate. It is malicious. The Senate’s compromise will still let 5,000 invaders in daily. It’s a deliberate non-fix that will get codified so that Joe Biden’s successor (either trump, or, if the rigging is good enough, Biden again until he dementias out) will have his hands tied.
These hordes at the border are from four dozen different third world countries. They don’t have a military because they aren’t organized like that. They probably don’t speak one another’s language. Comparing this to Russia/Ukraine is such a weak analogy it leads one to question basic intellect.
Since most of the normies on this site belong to the same socioeconomic ilk as those hard-wringing Karens on Martha’s vineyard, perhaps they need the Martha’s Vineyard treatment. Ship 500 Venezuelans and Haitians to build relief camps to Juan Solomon Park or Holiday Park or Marrott Woods and suddenly they’d squealing to Holcomb to send the National Guard. “All immigrants are welcome…but not in MY back yard!”
Yet again, Lauren gets the basics wrong.
Lauren: “The Senate’s compromise will still let 5,000 invaders in daily”
Legacy media: “Joe Biden would have the option to shut down the border if average daily crossings surpassed 4,000 in a week. If average daily crosses surpassed 5,000 or if the single-day total of crossings exceeded 8,500, then the president would be required to close the border.”
Lauren, it happens every time. Doesn’t it get old?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/05/us-senate-border-security-aid-ukraine-bill-key-takeaways
Congress needs a one page bill here is in it’s entirety.
In order for the President of the US to secure the border with the existing language in the US Constitution and subsequent laws passed by Congress we provide $60,000,000,000.00.
This action will begin in 10 days from becoming law and if not implemented thus Congress will declare war to secure the southern border.