Texas Governor Greg Abbott criticized Joe Biden for “putting America in danger by “not doing his job” at the border.
Abbott appeared with Donald Trump as he guided the Republican presidential front-runner along the edge of the Rio Grande and showed him what Texas is doing to stop the crossing of illegal immigrants.
The Republican governor showed Trump how shipping containers covered in concertina wire are used as barriers.
And it took him to a location where the body of a drowned illegal migrant was washed ashore earlier this week.
Republican presidential candidate Former President Donald Trump listens as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at Shelby Park on the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump points to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as he speaks in Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
A caravan passes by a series of buoys, which are being built to deter migrants crossing the Rio Grande, as they search for an opening in the concertina wire to enter Eagle Pass, Texas, USA, July 27, 2023.
Abbott also laid out plans to build an 80-acre base for the Texas National Guard.
He also vowed to continue his policy of busing illegal immigrants to Democratic “sanctuary” cities.
It came as Biden visited the border city of Brownsville, Texas, about 324 miles from where Abbot appeared with Trump but still in his state.
Abbott said: ‘The United States of America is being invaded. Joe Biden is not doing his job.
‘I don’t think he (Biden) is at the border right now. He is in some sanitized location in the Brownsville area and doesn’t see the barbed wire that Texas has placed around Brownsville.
Republican presidential candidate Former President Donald Trump speaks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
President Joe Biden delivers a speech on immigration and border security on February 29, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. The president visited the border near Brownsville on the same day as former President Donald Trump’s mourning trip to neighboring Eagle Pass, Texas.
Members of the US National Guard stand guard at shipping containers used as border fencing in Eagle Pass, Texas, USA, February 27, 2020.
The governor added: ‘And he announced that he was going to Brownsville after it was already known that President Trump was coming to the state of Texas.
‘It just shows that Biden doesn’t care about Texas or the border and what’s going on. As a result, it looks like a mess.’
Abbott said the United States is dealing with “more deadly consequences than we’ve had in our lifetimes because of Joe Biden’s policies at the border” and “it didn’t have to be this way.”
“All Joe Biden had to do to secure the border was maintain what President Trump put in place in the first place,” he said.
Visit of former US President Donald Trump to the city of Eagle Pass, near the Texas-Mexico border: his supporters gathered in the region on Thursday, February 29.
Local residents gather near the site of Donald Trump’s border visit with Greg Abbott in Eagle Pass, Texas.
He said there were already three laws in place that Biden should enforce.
The first requires the Biden administration to deny illegal entry into the United States “like what Texas is doing right here.”
He added; “President Biden is aiding and abetting illegal entry.”
The second law requires the administration to detain anyone who comes here illegally, he said.
But it’s not about stopping them. “It’s releasing them all over the country,” Abbott said.
Migrants wait to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande and entering the U.S. from Mexico, Oct. 19, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump visits the boat ramp at Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. On the right is Texas Governor Greg Abbot.
President Joe Biden (C) speaks as US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (CL), Texas Democratic Representative Vicente González Jr (CR) and others listen at the US Border Patrol station in Brownsville , Texas.
He said a third law requires the Biden administration to build border barriers.
But he said Biden is “using every tool he can to tear down the borders” that Texas is putting up.
Abbott said: “Not a week goes by without an American losing their life, being raped or assaulted by someone Biden has allowed to enter our country illegally.”
Texas is “ground zero” for illegal crossings and Biden had “lied to the United States” about the border, he said.
Abbott and Trump spoke at Shelby Park, a 47-acre grassy area near the river.
There were thousands of daily illegal immigrant crossings there before Abbott had the military take over the site in January.
Since then, the number of migrants crossing has dropped to “six or seven” a day, he said.