White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan defended Biden’s border policies in a statement, arguing Abbott’s “dangerous and unlawful actions are undermining that effective plan.” Hasan said such actions were “making it hard for the men and women of Border Patrol to do their jobs of securing the border, and putting migrants and border agents in danger.”
Vice President Kamala Harris also blasted Abbott and enforcement in his state, which a Texas trooper has said included orders to push nursing women and young children back into the river and denying them water in scorching heat.
“Across our nation, extremist so-called leaders demonize, target, and attack immigrants,” Harris said Monday at an annual conference for the Latino civil rights and advocacy group UniDos, where she called the actions in Texas “inhumane, outrageous, and un-American.”
Briefing reporters on Monday before the lawsuit was announced, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Abbott of “sowing chaos” and staging inhumane “political stunts.”
“He’s actively undermining our border enforcement plan,” she said, adding that illegal border crossings are at their lowest level since Biden took office.
Abbott is “not operating in good faith here,” she added.
The Texas governor has previously made the border a focal point of his administration. Last month, Abbott sent 42 migrants by bus to Los Angeles and touted in a statement the transport of more than 21,000 migrants from Texas to cities across the country since last year — an effort that he said provided “much-needed relief” to the state’s small border towns.
The DOJ’s letter to Texas last week asked officials to respond by 2 p.m. ET on Monday with an indication that the state planned to “expeditiously remove” the buoys. If Texas did not provide such a response, “the United States intends to file legal action,” the letter said.
Abbott, in his response, made clear that he did not intend to comply with the DOJ’s request.
“Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused,” Abbott said.
CORRECTION (July 24, 2023: 8:10 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when the Justice Department first threatened to sue Texas. It was in a letter on Thursday, not Friday.
Megan Lebowitz and Zoë Richards contributed.
