Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is hitting back at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s criticism of the president, saying on Sunday that the governor’s suggestion that Joe Biden could hypothetically close the border “couldn’t be more wrong” and the governor was trying to “wreak havoc” on other U.S. states.
Abbott suggested on State of the Union last week that Congress already imbued Biden with the power to close the border, arguing Biden “needs a backbone” to enforce current immigration laws instead of demanding new ones. Appearing on the same program on Sunday, Mayorkas said Abbott’s preferred presidential candidate, Donald Trump, already tried that once—and failed.
“As a matter of fact, former President Trump tried to close the border and it was enjoined in the courts and never saw the light of day,” Mayorkas said. Trump attempted to close the Southern border through multiple channels—including travel bans, changes to asylum laws and the use of Title 42 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter effort stayed in place until Biden’s first term.
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Mayorkas also didn’t hold back from criticizing Abbott directly, accusing him of bucking federal officials who sought to work with him and condemning him for sending buses of migrants to other U.S. cities.
“This coming from an individual who is purposefully refusing to coordinate, communicate, collaborate with other officials and trying to wreak havoc in other cities and states across the country,” Mayorkas said. “That is not a model of governance, and he couldn’t be more wrong.”
