Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he'll hire Border Patrol agents who are 'at risk' of losing their positions under Biden administration
- Governor Abbott says he will hire Border Patrol agents who may face disciplinary action from President Joe Biden.
- "I will hire you to help Texas secure our border," the governor said on "Fox News Sunday."
- Images of agents on horseback charging Haitian migrants near the border has elicited outrage from Biden, Vice President Harris and others.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Sunday expressed support for US Border Patrol agents who are disciplined by the Biden administration, pledging to hire them if they fear that their jobs are in jeopardy.
During an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace asked Abbott to respond to the videos and images that showed agents on horseback charging at Haitian migrants near the Texas border, which elicited a torrent of outrage from many across the country, including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and many members of Congress.
Abbott immediately laid blame on the president, criticizing his administration for what he said was a lack of enforcement of existing immigration laws.
"They wouldn't have been in that situation had the Biden administration enforced the immigration law and secured the border in the first place," the governor said.
He added: "If he takes any action against them whatsoever - I have worked side by side with those Border Patrol agents - I want them to know something. If they are at risk of losing their job by a president who is abandoning his duty to secure the border, you have a job in the state of Texas. I will hire you to help Texas secure our border."
President Joe Biden last week said that the agents who charged at migrants as they attempted to cross the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas, would face repercussions.
"I promise you those people will pay," Biden said of the agents during a White House press conference. "There will be consequences ... It's dangerous. It's wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world; it sends the wrong message at home. It's simply not who we are."
The Department of Homeland Security last week said that they take the allegations of mistreatment "very seriously."
"The footage is extremely troubling, and the facts learned from the full investigation, which will be conducted swiftly, will define the appropriate disciplinary actions to be taken," the department said.
Last week, the administration resumed deportations under Title 42, a public health policy that the Trump administration utilized that allows the US to remove migrants from the country without affording them the opportunity to apply for asylum.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday said that the Haitian migrants had been removed from the Del Rio area, NPR reported. Of the 15,000 migrants who were staying at a camp in Del Rio, roughly 2,000 individuals were sent back to Haiti, while 12,400 people are in the US awaiting their hearings in front of immigration judges, Mayorkas confirmed.
During the Fox News interview, Wallace also asked Abbott about the role of Texas state government at the US-Mexico border, noting that Attorney General Merrick Garland has threatened to sue the governor over an executive order that targets migrants.
"Because the Biden administration is refusing to do its duty to enforce the laws of the United States, they have left Texas in no position other than for us to step up and do what we have to do," the governor contended. "I'm going to step up and do whatever I have to do to make sure that I protect the people of Del Rio, as well as all these other communities in the state of Texas that the Biden administration is ignoring."