Greg Abbott Just Escalated His War on Illegal Immigration in a Huge Way

Gov. Greg Abbott is apparently throwing caution to the wind with his latest move to curb illegal immigration in his home state of Texas. Today, Abbott announced that enforcement agencies under his control, specifically the National Guard, will now begin arresting illegal immigrants crossing the border.

This came on the heels of news that nearly 90% of the 50,000 illegal immigrants released by the Biden administration without a court date have even bothered to check in as required.

Abbott seemingly gets more based by the day.

Greg Abbott Orders Texas National Guard To Begin Arresting Illegal Immigrants https://t.co/n3voEuCUph pic.twitter.com/Z8wu97GEFh

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 28, 2021

“Beginning on May 31, 2021, I have issued multiple proclamations certifying under Section 418.014 of the Texas Government Code that the surge of individuals unlawfully crossing the Texas-Mexico border poses an ongoing and imminent threat of disaster for certain counties and agencies in the State of Texas,” Abbott wrote. “To respond to this disaster and secure the rule of law at our Southern border, more manpower is needed — in addition to the troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and soldiers from the Texas National Guard I have already deployed there — and DPS needs help in arresting those who are violating state law.”

“By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border,” he ordered.

My big question is what they are going to do with these illegal immigrants once arrested? Will they hand them over to ICE, where they’ll undoubtedly just be let go? Or will they remain in state and local facilities? That’s going to get complicated, especially as the number of arrests climbs. I doubt Texas has enough jail space to make this work for long. With that said, I could be missing a part of the plan. We’ll have to wait for more details to see how this will all transpire.

Past that, you can also expect lots of pushback from the Biden administration. It wouldn’t surprise me if the DOJ is preparing a lawsuit right now claiming that Texas doesn’t have the legal authority to enforce immigration laws. The left’s view on federalism is that if it’s something they like (weed, gun control, or illegal immigration), states can defy the federal government to facilitate it. Otherwise, Washington rules all.

I doubt Abbott cares about any of that, though. He seems to understand that illegal immigration is a major issue in his state, and he’s willing to take whatever chances are necessary to do something on the matter. If the DOJ wants to come after him, let them do it. That won’t win Abbott praise on CNN, but it will continue to turn formerly blue areas red inside of Texas, especially Hispanic border communities like McAllen.