Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of America’s second-largest state, has kicked off the New Year by escalating his ongoing war against immigrants to fresh heights of recklessness. In both deed and word, Texas’ top executive has chosen not just to lob cheap political barbs but to court chaos and foment hate.
Starting January 10, Abbott oversaw the state takeover of a city-owned park along the Rio Grande in the border town of Eagle Pass. The move was made without the consent of local officials. “That is not a decision that we agreed to. This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city,” Mayor Rolando Salinas said on Facebook.
Following the takeover, according to a court filing by the U.S. Justice Department, the Texas National Guard began denying access to federal Border Patrol agents, a Defense Department soldier, and even Texas’ own state troopers. The filing, consisting mostly of a declaration by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official, is part of an ongoing legal dispute between the state and feds over concertina wire along the border. In it, Robert Danley, lead field coordinator for the Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, said National Guard members were preventing Border Patrol from using a boat ramp and placing surveillance equipment used to monitor the area.
