Border Rep Pleas for Humanitarian Help
after Abbott Folds on Unlawful POE Plan

Capitol Inside
September 17, 2021

A Texas border lawmaker issued an urgent plea for help from the state on Thursday night in the fallout from Governor Greg Abbott's extraordinary closing of a half-dozen entry points before backing down immediately amid pressure from the Biden administration.

State Rep. Eddie Morales - an Eagle Pass Democrat who represents Del Rio - pleaded for state assistance in a letter to the Republican governor about a sudden flood of migrants that had more than 8,000 gathered under bridges that link Val Verde and Kinney counties to Mexico. The migrants are Haitian refugees.

"We need more resources immediately," Morales said. "While we can agree this is a federal responsiblity, we cannot let our local communities suffer whilde we wait on federal resources."

Morales portrayed the situation as a humanitarian crisis - telling Abbott that local officials were in desperate need of transportation and food for migrants along with water and medical supplies.

"Our constituents need help, and you have the ability to provide it," Morales said.

Abbott was preoccupied with damage control throughout the day - however - after the epic usurping of federal responsibility in a grandstanding play for the conservative base. Abbott appeared to get the idea from Don Huffines - a former Texas Senate member who's challenging the governor in the GOP primary election in March.

Huffines has been calling for months for the state to close the border to traffic from Mexico even though it does not have the power to do so. Abbott appeared to be confused about the limits of his authority on the border unless the points of entry shuttering were simply designed for a publicity splash.

The Texas governor has sought to pick fights with Democratic President Joe Biden frequently in recent months - seizing on an immigration surge this year to build his brand in the new Donald Trump GOP. Abbott had been widely regarded as an establishment Republican slightly right of center before a radical swing to the far right with his eye on a presidential race in 2024.

After receiving 56 percent approval marks in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, Abbott's popularity has declined sharply in correlation with the dramatic political makeover.

Abbott appeared to be heeding the Huffines call with his maneuvering today.

“The sheer negligence of the Biden Administration to do their job and secure the border is appalling," Abbott said initially."I have directed the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to surge personnel and vehicles to shut down six points of entry along the southern border to stop these caravans from overrunning our state.”

The White House pulled the plug on Abbott's intervention on the Rio Grande abruptly.

"The Department of Homeland Security is not seeking assistance from the State of Texas to shut down ports of entry," the federal agency said a statement. "It would be a violation of federal law for the Texas National Guard to unilaterally do so.”

Abbott refused to admit defeat - however - suggesting in a subsequent statement that the rapid retreat on the POE takeover plan was a product of Biden waffling.

"Six hours after U.S. Customs and Border Protection requested help from Texas to close ports of entry and secure the border, the Biden Administration has now flip-flopped to a different strategy that abandons border security and instead makes it easier for people to cross illegally and for cartels to exploit the border. The Biden Administration is in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan. I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to maintain their presence at and around ports of entry to deter crossings."

Abbott was mum two years ago during a major immigration surge when Trump was president.