Josh Hawley Wants to Take Away Biden's Power

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley spoke about issues at the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday and called for President Joe Biden's power to be taken away and left up to states.

"I've actually introduced legislation that would allow Texas and every other state to enforce our nation's border laws," Hawley said during an interview with Fox News' Faulkner Report. "If Biden won't do it, let the states do it.

"What we need to have inside the Senate is real action and if you want real action at the border, let the states enforce the law. Texas wants to do it, other states want to do it, we have a president who won't, so let's make it easy, let's just say if a state wants to enforce the federal law on the border, let's let them do it."

The comments by Hawley come amid an ongoing fight between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over the U.S.-Mexico border and the influx of migrants. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that Texas must remove razor wire and other barriers that were placed along the border to thwart migrants from crossing into the state.

However, Abbott said in a statement that Texas has the "constitutional right to defend and protect itself as President Joe Biden continues to attack Texas and refuse to perform his duties to secure the border."

"I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas's constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary," Abbott said.

After reaching out to Hawley's press office via email, Newsweek was directed to a statement announcing the legislation, titled the State Border Defense Act, which was introduced by the Missouri senator in October.

"Our southern border is overrun. Joe Biden's dangerous open-border policies are making it worse every single day, leaving states like Missouri to deal with the consequences. Since the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws, states must be able to," Hawley said in the statement.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

A number of other elected officials across the nation have spoken out in support of Texas such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.

"If the Constitution really made states powerless to defend themselves against an invasion, it wouldn't have been ratified in the first place and Texas would have never joined the union when it did," DeSantis said on X, formerly Twitter. "TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it. FL will keep assisting Texas with personnel and assets."

Similarly, Stitt wrote: "Oklahoma stands with Texas."

Update 1/25/24, 2:27 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.