Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hasn't been shy in sharing his disdain for illegal immigration in the state, but the Republican politician took things a step further to begin the new year.
Abbott said that shooting migrants is the only measurement border patrol isn't willing to take to defend the border because the Biden administration would sue the state for murder.
We are using every tool that can be used from building a border wall, to building these border barriers, to passing this law that I signed that led to another lawsuit by the Biden administration where I signed a law making it illegal for somebody to enter Texas from another country,” Abbott said on a podcast with former National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch last week.
The only thing that we’re not doing is shooting people who come across the border because, of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder,” Abbott later added.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa rebuked Abbott’s remarks and questioned the Texas governor's moral posture in a statement issued Thursday.
The only thing stopping Greg Abbott from ordering law enforcement to shoot migrant women and children are murder charges. Time and time again, Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans have made it abundantly clear they have no morality or humanity,” Hinojosa said in a lengthy statement.
Abbott has heavily advocated for stricter border patrol measures, but his recent comments feel a bit radical, even for him.
His controversial remarks come amid a legal battle between Abbott and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who filed a $700 million lawsuit against Abbott's migrant busing program.
Abbott addressed the lawsuit in his podcast appearance with Loesch.
It's a crazy lawsuit with no legality whatsoever," Abbott said. "Once a migrant gets on a bus or plane from Texas to head up there [to New York], the Biden administration has already authorized them to be in the United States. Because they are in America, the legal rights to the right to travel exists, so Mayor Adams is in violation of their legal rights."
Abbott added that he believes Adams will "lose [the lawsuit] very rapidly" and that he aims to charge him for the cost of courts and attorneys for the "frivolous lawsuit."
Adams is hopeful that the lawsuit will prevent Abbott from shipping busloads of asylum seekers to New York City. The New York mayor has filed a lawsuit against 17 charter bus companies used by the Lone Star State.
Adams has also requested the bus companies to reimburse the city for the hundreds of millions of dollars that it costs to shelter them.
New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the cost of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas, alone," Adams said.
The suit seeks $708 million to compensate the city for the cost of shelter, food and health care.
These companies have violated state law by not paying the cost of caring for these migrants," Adams said.
In addition to his legal bouts in New York, Abbott may incur waves of backlash for his preference to shoot migrants at the border.
The Justice Department already filed a lawsuit against Texas last week after warning the state not to enforce the new law.
Now, additional punishment may be en route for the Texas governor.
Texas cannot run its own immigration system,” the Justice Department states in the lawsuit. “Its efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations.”
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