Migrants wait to get into a U.S. government bus after crossing the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. According to the Ciudad Juarez Human Rights Office, hundreds of mostly Central American migrants arrived in buses and crossed the border to seek asylum in the US, after spending the night in shelters. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is ramping up his claims that the Biden administration’s border policies are to blame for the increase in migration into the United States.
In a letter to President Biden dated Tuesday, Abbott said Texas is “overburdened as we respond to this disaster caused by you and your administration.”
“This terrible crisis for border communities in Texas is a catastrophe of your own making,” wrote Abbott.
The governor’s letter comes as the border has attracted renewed attention, primarily because a large group of mostly Nicaraguan migrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border en masse into El Paso, Texas, in early December.
In his letter, Abbott places singular blame on the Biden administration’s border policies while glossing over the multiple factors that led to the crisis in El Paso.
The sudden flow of people into El Paso was in large part precipitated by a mass kidnapping of migrants days earlier. Many officials from the border — including some Democrats — have used the incident to make the case for more stringent border policies.
“Texas has borne a lopsided burden caused by your open border policies. The need to address this crisis is not the job of border states like Texas. Instead, the U.S. Constitution dictates that it is your job, Mr. President, to defend the borders of our country, regulate our nation’s immigration, and manage those who seek refuge here,” wrote Abbott.
While Abbott used his letter to place blame on the administration — a political tool he’s often wielded — he also made a plea for federal dollars to care for migrants during the coming winter months.
“Your policies will leave many people in the bitter, dangerous cold as a polar vortex moves into Texas,” wrote Abbott.
“With perilous temperatures moving into the area, many of these migrants are at risk of freezing to death on city streets,” he later added.
In El Paso, migrant shelters were forced to release people out on the street, overwhelming social services in the city.
That city’s crisis was aggravated by a series of circumstances, including the August closing of Casa del Refugiado, a major shelter that opened in 2018 after the Trump administration dropped hundreds of families in the liberal West Texas enclave over Christmas.
El Paso has not historically been a top crossing destination for asylum-seekers, a reality that was factored into the decision to close the facility.
“Having lost a shelter with space to temporarily host 1,500 migrants, El Paso could find itself in a precarious position should the number of asylum seekers rise again,” warned the El Paso Times in August.
Still, institutions such as the Red Cross have surged aid into El Paso, with assistance from federal agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who represents El Paso, told MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart Wednesday that “[Homeland Security] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas has been amazing. FEMA has bent over backwards” to assist nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the city.
The pressure on NGOs to shoulder the burden of humanitarian aid also comes as Abbott has taken aim at the civil society groups.
Earlier this month Abbott called on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to investigate NGOs that help migrants, claiming that “NGOs may be engaged in unlawfully orchestrating other border crossings through activities on both sides of the border, including in sectors other than El Paso.”
While Abbott has placed blame for the crisis on both NGOs and the federal government, his letter makes no mention of the unprecedented migrant flows in the Western Hemisphere, spurred by political and economic mismanagement, as well as the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Historically, U.S. border policies have had little effect on the number of migrants seeking to enter the United States, though those policies have often directed how migrants attempt their crossings and how long they stay in the country.
And the Biden administration has to a large extent kept in place stringent border control measures enacted during the Trump administration, including Title 42, a border policy that allows U.S. border officials to quickly expel many migrants without processing their asylum claims.
Title 42 is currently under review in the Supreme Court, where the Biden administration on Tuesday took its first significant step to remove the Trump-era policy, asking Chief Justice John Roberts to allow a sunset of the policy ordered by a federal judge.
But the Biden administration has by and large stood by its predecessor’s border management strategies, angering immigrant advocates while getting no recognition from Republicans such as Abbott.
“They’re never going to get any credit from Republicans on being Trump-light. Republicans are never going to say the Biden administration is managing the border efficiently, or what they’re doing is enough,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice, a progressive immigration advocacy group.
“So I think the administration needs to go on the offense on this issue. And just like they have done on other issues, they need to be bold and really, really follow the vision that President Biden laid out to run for office. Right now they’re doing the opposite,” she added.
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