Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that President Biden “cares more about people who are not from this country” as his immigration policies spawn a crisis at the border, with surging numbers of migrants being released into communities without testing.
Mr. Abbott also challenged Homeland Security to vaccinate all Border Patrol agents this week, saying it was unconscionable that agents are being deployed to handle the surge without protection against the pandemic.
“Anything less than that is the epitome of inhumanity,” the Republican governor said.
He said Mr. Biden and his team are downplaying the severity of the “crisis” on the border, both in terms of numbers and the danger the migrants pose as a vector for the coronavirus.
“He does not care about Americans, he cares more about people who are not from this country,” the governor said.
Mr. Abbott over the weekend announced he would deploy state resources to try to blunt the worst of the migrant surge, with the state Department of Public Safety assisted by 500 National Guard soldiers.
On Tuesday, he took a tour of the border, meeting with Border Patrol officials and flying in a helicopter over the area. He said while they were in the air they saw migrants actively jumping the border by rafting over the Rio Grande and walking up a dirt road into the U.S.
He said the surge of migrants is a tactic the smuggling cartels are using to overwhelm federal agents, forcing them to babysit families and children who cross the border, even as the smugglers then send in more dangerous cargo, whether that’s drugs or migrants who pose a public safety risk.
“They have to engage quite literally in babysitting, and while they’re doing babysitting that provides an opportunity for the cartels to bring other people across the border illegally,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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