EAGLE PASS, Texas — On Sunday afternoon, more than a dozen Republican governors stood with Gov. Greg Abbott in Eagle Pass as Texas' standoff with the federal government over immigration enforcement continues. Several of those governors spoke, commending Abbott's efforts to secure the border.
Meanwhile, Democratic Congressional leaders criticized Abbott's actions, calling it chaos and extremism at the border.
Abbott said President Joe Biden has abandoned his responsibility to secure the border, repeating a familiar refrain. Texas' governor added Biden has a responsibility to deny entry and detain migrants whom Abbott says are crossing illegally.
"As opposed to detaining illegal immigrants, Biden has let them all loose across the entire country with no ability to accurately determine their whereabouts, or what they may be doing," said Abbott.
Governors attending Sunday's press conference said they stand with Abbott and pledged support to secure the border.
"We have had hundreds of troops on the border," said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. "We are prepared even today to send additional troops."
Abbott said he, along with the governors, intended to send "a loud and clear message that we are banding together to fight to ensure that we will be able to maintain our constitutional guarantee that states will be able to defend against any type of imminent danger," citing a clause in the Constitution.
"Where a state can defend itself and it's citizens, to protect their safety from the imminent danger were facing and from an invasion of millions of people coming from across the globe, into our country," said Abbott.
Earlier, on Sunday morning, U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, along with other Democratic congressional leaders, responded to the gathering of Republican governors, condemning Abbott's efforts along the border.
"Governor Abbott's Operation Lone Star has been a disaster," said Castro.
The Democratic leaders said they have all tried to pass solutions to challenges presented at the border, but the legislation has been stopped by Republicans who would rather use border issues for political gains.
"We have been met by a Republican party that insists on rhetoric, over real solutions," said Castro.
A complex issue
Declines in crossings are part of a complex mix of developments along the U.S. border, including heightened enforcement in Mexico. Meanwhile, migrants are moving further down the river and crossing elsewhere.
The issue was also at the forefront in Washington, where senators on Sunday raced to release a highly-anticipated bill that pairs border enforcement policy with wartime aid for Ukraine.
Abbott said he would continue expanding operations along the Texas border but did not provide details. For nearly a month, Texas has restricted U.S. Border Patrol's access to an area along the river known as Shelby Park, accusing the Biden administration of not being tough enough on crossings.
The record number of border crossings is a political liability for President Joe Biden and an issue that Republicans are eager to put front and center to voters in an election year. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week committed to send more National Guard troops to Texas and other governors are also weighing new deployments.
The epicenter of an ongoing struggle
Eagle Pass is where Texas has been locked in a power struggle with the Biden administration for the past month after the state began denying access to U.S. Border Patrol agents at Shelby Park.
Crossings in recent weeks are down overall along the entire U.S. border, including areas without such a heavy security presence.
Tucson, Arizona, which has been the busiest of nine Border Patrol sectors on the Mexican border, tallied 13,800 arrests in the weeklong period that ended Friday. That is down 29% from a peak of 19,400 in week ended Dec. 22, according to John Modlin, the sector chief.
Just a day after Biden expressed “his appreciation for Mexico’s operational support and for taking concrete steps to deter irregular migration” in a call with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican immigration agency said Sunday that in the last week, they had rescued 71 immigrants – 22 of them minors— in two groups stranded on sand bars of the Rio Grande, between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. They were from Mexico, Central America, Ecuador and Peru.
A Honduran woman and her 1-year-old baby were also rescued from the water and the emergency team also found three corpses, apparently migrants who died trying to cross into the U.S.
Biden, now sounding increasingly like former President Donald Trump, is pressing Congress for asylum restrictions that would have been unthinkable when he took office. Immigration remains a major worry for voters in the 2024 election: An AP-NORC poll earlier this month found that voters voicing concerns about immigration climbed to 35% from 27% last year.
The arrival of GOP governors to Eagle Pass rounds out a weekend that has kept the small border city of roughly 30,000 residents in an unwitting spotlight. Hundreds protesting Biden's immigration policies held a “Take Back Our Border” rally on the outskirts of the city on Saturday where vendors sold Donald Trump-inspired MAGA hats and Trump flags.
The number of crossings in Eagle Pass has recently fallen to a few hundred a day. Texas closed access to federal agents at Shelby Park after the number of crossings decreased sharply at the end of December. Mike Banks, who Abbott appointed last year to oversee Texas' border operations, described the park as a “magnet” for migrants trying to enter the country.
“So we’ve taken that pull factor away,” Banks said.
Mexico has bolstered immigration efforts that include adding more checkpoints and sending people from the northern border to southern Mexico. The country has also deported some Venezuelan migrants back home.
Melissa Ruiz, 30, arrived at the Piedras Negras shelter, across the river from Eagle Pass, along with her four children. The Honduran mother said gang members back home had tried to recruit her 15-year-old son, her oldest, prompting her to reluctantly flee.
Ruiz said she had little awareness of the tightening security on the Texas side, having heard of many people crossing into the U.S. since she arrived at the shelter. The main deterrence for her, she said, is the cold weather and the river’s increased flow after recent rainfall. Drownings in the river are tragically common.
“What they say that one suffers so much on this road, it’s true," Ruiz said.