Greg Abbott Discusses Building Border Wall Around 'Liberal' Austin

Texas Governor Greg Abbott jokingly suggested a border wall could be constructed around Austin because of its "values" at a campaign event on Wednesday.

Abbott was speaking at a rally in support of Hillary Hickland, a Republican who is hoping to secure the party's candidacy to run for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives in the state's central District 55.

"Listen, there are a lot of people who get elected, especially in Republican primaries, who go to Austin, Texas. And as you all know, the values of Austin, Texas, are a lot different than they are right [here]," Abbott said after endorsing Hickland.

At that point, an audience member can be heard saying "build a wall" to which Abbott replied: "Did you say build a wall? Oh, so you're saying build a wall up between here and Austin? Is that what you're saying? Around Austin. Yeah. All right, well, let us finish the border wall first."

The governor's remarks sparked laughter and some applause from the assembled crowd.

Newsweek has reached out to Abbott's press office for comment by email.

Austin, the Texas state capital, is generally considered to be more liberal than the wider state and has elected a number of Democrats to the Texas House.

Abbott's speech on Wednesday wasn't the first time he's jokingly suggested building a border wall somewhere. At a campaign event on February 15, he referenced a possible wall between Texas and Oklahoma, another Republican-controlled state, saying: "There are challenges that we face in this state that are sweeping across the country, including this radical woke left agenda that we see criss-crossing the United States and even coming across the border of the Red River.

"I'll get around to talking about the border, but some people say 'Abbott, you need to build a border wall on the border with Oklahoma to stop all this stuff from coming in.'"

Tensions between Abbott and the Biden administration over illegal immigration erupted after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal agents can remove razor wire placed along the Texas-Mexico border by the state's National Guard on January 22.

In response, Abbott claimed Texas was being subject to an "invasion" and invoked its "constitutional authority to defend and protect itself."

An open letter was signed by 25 Republican governors backing Abbott's position while former President Donald Trump, by some margin the favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, urged GOP governors to send National Guard troops to Texas' southern border.

Texas is battling a series of devastating wildfires that have been tearing across the panhandle area of the state since Monday. In response, Abbott issued a disaster declaration on Tuesday for 60 counties and pledged to "ensure critical fire response resources are swiftly deployed to areas in the Texas panhandle being impacted by devastating wildfires."