Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Newsmax on Thursday he is deploying additional forces at nonentry points along the border with Mexico to stem the expected surge of immigrants looking to enter the United States illegally with the midnight expiration of federal Title 42 restrictions.
Lamenting President Joe Biden's "open border policies," Abbott said on "Eric Bolling The Balance" that he and his state were bracing for "an ongoing process of chaos that we've already seen taking place."
"And that's exactly why Texas is doing what we're doing," Abbott said. "And maybe you guys have shown some of the videos where we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety. They're putting up barriers of different types to prevent people from coming in areas that are not ports of entry, and we are increasing our manpower on the border as we speak.
"What is the Biden administration going to do? I have no idea, but it seems to be nothing more than an ongoing process of their open border policies."
Section 265 of Title 42 of the U.S Code was enacted in 1944 to prevent the entry of foreign nationals with communicable diseases and was employed by the Trump administration to stem illegal immigration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the declaration of the COVID-19 emergency passed, Abbott said he thought the measure could be redeployed, or at least a separate health emergency declared, to stem the large influx of the synthetic opioid fentanyl being smuggled across the border among the migrants.
"Understand this: Texas law enforcement officials alone have seized enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child in the entire United States of America," Abbott said. "Not counting what all the other law enforcement officials have seized. We have deadly fentanyl all across America because of the [Mexican drug] cartels that have brought it across the border. It would be a very valid reason for the Biden administration to use Title 42 to close down the border to stop the importation of fentanyl.
"But apparently, they just do not want to."
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