U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote a letter to Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott on Thursday in response to Abbott’s recent executive order.
Abbott signed an executive order this week restricting the flow of migrants into Texas due to COVID-19.
According to the governor’s website, Abbott signed the executive order “restricting ground transportation of migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19 into Texas communities.” It also “directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to stop any vehicle upon reasonable suspicion of such violation and reroute such vehicles back to its point of origin or a port of entry. DPS also has the authority to impound a vehicle that violates the Executive Order.”
In response, Attorney General Garland wrote his own letter to Abbott, saying that the order cannot be enforced, and pressed the governor to immediately take it back.
Garland wrote that the order “would jeopardize the health and safety of noncitizens in federal government custody, federal law enforcement personnel and their families, and our communities.”
He also stated that it “directly interferes with the implementation of federal immigration law.”
“Texas has no authority to interfere with the United States’ ‘broad, un-doubted power over the subject of immigration’ by impairing the United States’ release of individuals and the ability of those individuals to comply with federal immigration law,” Garland added.
Garland concluded his letter by saying that if Abbott does not rescind the order, he was providing notice that “the United States intends to pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.”
Abbott has been outspoken about the Biden administration’s unwillingness to combat the rise of illegal immigration and migrants crossing the Texas border into the United States.
Regarding the order, Abbott said, “The dramatic rise in unlawful border crossings has also led to a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases among unlawful migrants who have made their way into our state, and we must do more to protect Texans from this virus and reduce the burden on our communities.”
“This Executive Order will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities,” he added.
Abbott previously stated that he planned to build a barrier along the border of the state with Mexico since the Biden administration has mostly disregarded the immigration crisis at the southern border.
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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