(Washington) Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott issued an executive order on Thursday authorizing state law enforcement to escort migrants who may have crossed illegally to the border, a power normally reserved for the US federal state. .
Posted yesterday at 10:43 p.m.
“As President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up to the plate and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” the elected official said in a statement.
Greg Abbott authorizes his Department of Public Security and the Texas National Guard to “apprehend irregular immigrants who have illegally crossed the border” and to “return them to the border”.
The executive order should see Texas come into conflict with the federal state which is the only one in the United States with jurisdiction over immigration. The true extent of its application also remains unclear.
Asked by AFP, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had not yet reacted Thursday evening.
In the wake of the Texas governor’s announcement, the Mexican government said it “rejects” the executive order and stressed that enforcement of immigration laws is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government.
“Therefore, this decision can only be understood as falling within the framework of the electoral campaigns in the State of Texas”, argues the Mexican government in a press release.
Governor Abbott’s announcement comes a week after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Joe Biden, who overturned a contested immigration order by ex-President Donald Trump to send asylum seekers arrested at the border back to Mexico during the review of their case.
The measure, dubbed “Remain in Mexico”, was implemented in 2019 when the United States recorded an influx of refugees at the border with Mexico.
Thousands of migrants from Central America, the Caribbean, Venezuela, and Mexico attempt to cross the US-Mexico border, which is more than 3,000 km long in total.
Joe Biden will receive his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (“AMLO”) on July 12, almost two weeks after the tragedy in San Antonio which saw the death of 53 migrants in an overheated and overloaded truck.
President Obrador has previously said migration will be a “central” issue during his talks with Joe Biden.