Abbott fences off border with New Mexico for 'immigration.' Maybe just do the whole state.
I wish I loved anything as much as Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott loves razor-sharp, flesh-ripping coils of concertina wire.
Having made national headlines and aroused the more sadistic wing of his party’s voting base by stretching dangerous buoys and razor wire along the Rio Grande, the thirsty-to-get-on-Fox-News governor has now had the Texas National Guard stretch miles of concertina wire along the state’s border with New Mexico.
That’s right, Abbott is directly violating the Texas state motto – “Friendship” – by fencing off part of a neighboring state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott keeps adding to his 'cruel to migrants' résumé
In a terse statement, the Texas Military Department wrote: “We are now fortifying the border between Texas and New Mexico to block migrants.” New Mexican migrants? Tourists going from Las Cruces to El Paso?
No, the supposed intent of this decidedly dangerous fencing is to keep migrants who cross the Mexican border into New Mexico from making their way to Texas. Of course the actual intent has nothing to do with seriously addressing the issue of illegal immigration, a problem no border-state governor or presidential administration has ever been able to solve.
It's a way for Abbott to pretend he's tough on immigration while pillorying President Joe Biden's border policies, which have focused more on addressing root causes than cruel stunts. It’s another thing Abbott can add to his “Nobody Is Crueler To Migrants Than Ol’ Greg!” vision board.
Razor wire in Rio Grande: Abbott's buoy barrier, razor wire border wall doesn't just risk lives. It may be illegal.
In a joint statement, Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa and Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Jessica Velasquez wrote: “This is the latest Operation Lone Star stunt funded by the working Texas family’s tax-dollar that will result in environmental damage, community division and injuries of vulnerable migrants. It’s clear that Governor Abbott has no plans on actually addressing our broken immigration system head on.”
How dare those Democrats accuse the Texas governor of something so accurate.
Abbott just wants to act tough on migrants and get on Fox News
The statement continued: “New Mexico has some of the most humane, people-oriented immigration laws in the country. New Mexico Democratic leaders believe that everyone who comes to our country in pursuit of a better life, as an asylum-seeker or otherwise, deserves just and humane treatment, and the laws of New Mexico reflect those values. Greg Abbott knows that New Mexican neighbors are not the enemy, but is working overtime to gain Fox News airtime.”
Again, highlighting Abbott’s transparent antic while simultaneously suggesting that human beings treat other human beings with compassion is a CLASSIC Democratic maneuver. Shame on those party chairs for so rudely demeaning a man who is using taxpayer money to get Fox News host Sean Hannity to be his best pal.
What migrant surge? No, America is not seeing an unprecedented surge in immigration. New Census data prove it.
Perhaps Abbott should keep fencing Texas off ... a little more ... a little more ...
The truth is, there’s a reasonable way Abbott’s pointy-fence-enthusiasm can be leveraged to make America a better place.
As long as the governor has started constructing a barrier heading north into the United States, he might as well continue, ideally moving it 20 or so miles up to around Anthony, Texas, and then banging a sharp right, heading east and following the Texas-New Mexico border for a couple hundred miles until he hits New Mexico’s Lea County. There he would want the National Guard to run the fence northward a few hundred or so miles until he hits the spot marked the Northwestern Corner of Texas.
Now I know this is already sounding like A LOT of fence, but the truth is, you just never know where a migrant might try to slip into the Lone Star State or, more important, where Abbott or one of his supporters might try to slip out of Texas to infiltrate what I like to call “the greater 47,” America’s non-Texas contiguous states. (The greater 47 does not include Alaska and Hawaii, though they are also great.)
Why not just fence off all of Texas to protect the rest of us from Greg Abbott?
Having already stretched that much fencing, Abbott might as well continue to protect his state from possible migrant invasion via Texas’ borders with Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
This effort, which I’ve dubbed “Operation Lone Star Encapsulation,” will effectively seal off the roughly 4,000-mile perimeter of the state, keeping migrants out and protecting other Americans from dangerous Texas policies, including: Abbott’s six-week abortion ban; his permit-free gun carrying law; his ban on transgender care for minors; his law shuttering all diversity, equity and inclusion offices at state colleges and universities; the state’s relentless book bans; and the fact that Elon Musk lives there.
While I would technically prefer it if the Texas governor would direct time and resources toward humane and sensible border solutions, that seems unlikely.
So second best is probably if he just fences the whole darn state off. It won’t stop the flow of migrants, as barriers never do. But it might at least help the rest of us in the greater 47 avoid exposure to whatever the heck Abbott is up to down there.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abbott, don't stop at New Mexico. Put border wall around all of Texas
