Greg Abbott Urges States to Send 'All Available Law Enforcement' to Texas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who said "every state is a border state," is pleading for resources to be sent to the Texas-Mexico border.

In a letter to U.S. governors, Abbott criticized President Joe Biden for allowing Title 42 to end, a move he called "negligent disregard," adding that states "must band together to combat President Biden's ongoing border crisis."

Title 42, which expired Thursday, was enacted by former President Donald Trump. The pandemic-era rule allowed border officials to expel migrants without a formal asylum process in an effort to stop the potential spread of COVID-19. When Biden signed a resolution declaring May 11 as the end of the health emergency in the U.S., Title 42 expired that evening. Critics of the president's decision feared it would lead to chaos in already overwhelmed border communities, prompting some Southern states to announce their own plans ahead of the policy's end date.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Sunday that Border Patrol has experienced a 50 percent decrease in the number of illegal migrant crossings in the first two days following the policy's expiration. He said agents had about 6,300 encounters with migrants crossing the border illegally on Friday and 4,200 on Saturday compared to more than 10,000 such encounters in the final days of Title 42.

Abbott, in his Tuesday letter and an online statement, urged his fellow governors to help "hold the line against the influx of illegal crossings and criminal activity." He called on them to work together through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which allows states to share resources and aid during a natural disaster or emergency.

"The flood of illegal border activity invited by the Biden Administration flows directly across the southern border into Texas communities, but this crisis does not stop in our state," the Republican said in the letter. "In the federal government's absence, we, as governors, must band together to combat President Biden's ongoing border crisis and ensure the safety and security that all Americans deserve."

At the moment, only Idaho and Florida have agreed to send resources to Texas, a spokesperson for Abbott confirmed to Newsweek in an email on Tuesday.

GOP Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday that Florida "stands ready to help defend the southern border" and is sending 1,100 "assets" to Texas, which include Highway Patrol troopers, National Guardsmen, drones, boats and more.

While Abbott also expressed his gratitude to Idaho and Florida for offering assistance, he urged other states to join the effort.

"Join us in the mission to defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity and send all available law enforcement personnel and resources to the Texas-Mexico border to serve alongside our thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers," he said.

Abbott has recently come under fire after being accused of targeting cities run by Black mayors in his efforts to bus migrants out of his state as a political move against the Biden administration's immigration policies.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is Black, slammed Abbott this month when he said on Twitter that it's "impossible" to ignore the fact that the governor's busing strategy is aimed at New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C., because they're "run by Black mayors." Those cities have already spent millions to shelter the migrants that Abbott has bused up north in the past year.

Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, denied Adams' accusations and accused New York's mayor of "spreading falsehoods and outright lies."

"[Adams] knows full well these migrants willingly chose to go to New York City, since his staff saw firsthand on their secret trip to Texas last year as migrants raised their hands to go on buses to his sanctuary city," Mahaleris previously told Newsweek.

Mahaleris also defended Abbott's decision to continue sending migrants north, saying that Democratic mayors like Adams were "proud to tout their self-declared sanctuary city status" until Texas began busing migrants to their cities.