Republican Governor Confronted About Greg Abbott's Border Standoff

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was confronted on Monday regarding Texas Governor Greg Abbott's fight with the federal government over the U.S.-Mexico border.

While appearing on CNN This Morning with host Phil Mattingly, Kemp, a Republican, was asked about legal experts questioning how Americans would respond if Democratic states took a similar approach to Abbott and defied the federal government over different laws.

"I'll let Governor Abbott and his lawyers speak to the law," Kemp told Mattingly. "He made some very powerful points yesterday during our press conference...What I saw on the ground was a lot different than the pictures you've seen a week, two weeks ago, when you had literally thousands of people coming across, illegally, into our country. Where yesterday, basically nothing is happening down there other than people going back and forth legally."

"Obviously, what Governor Abbott is doing is working for them," Kemp said.

When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Kemp's office directed Newsweek to the governor's recent post on X, formerly Twitter, which said, "What @GregAbbott_TX is doing is working. I saw it firsthand. But here's the problem: Texas is one state. We need the president to act to secure the entire southern border across multiple states."

The context:

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with President Joe Biden in a ruling that required Texas to remove razor wire and other barriers that were placed at the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, Texas.

Abbott has since defied the order and said that he has constitutional authority to defend his state from an influx of illegal migrants crossing the border.

"The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense," Abbott said in a statement. "For these reasons, 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."

What we know:

Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection has shown a continued increase in illegal migrant encounters and the southwest land borders across the nation. Biden has called on Congress to give him authority to pass border security legislation to combat the influx.

A number of Republican governors, including Kemp, have signaled support for Abbott and Texas in their fight with the federal government. As Kemp mentioned on Monday, he recently traveled to Texas and spoke alongside Abbott at a press conference.

Views:

Several Republicans have been critical of Biden asking for more authority but a bipartisan border security bill in the Senate was recently released.

The bill seeks to enhance border security by expanding the border wall, enhancing border patrol security, and altering laws surrounding the asylum of migrants.

Republican Senator James Lankford, the lead negotiator on the bill, said on social media: "The emergency authority is not designed to let 5,000 people in, it is designed to close the border and turn 5,000 people around."

What's next:

The bipartisan border security bill is expected to be discussed in the U.S. Senate this week, but it is unclear how the GOP-led House will respond.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the bill "will be dead on arrival" if it reaches the House.

"I've seen enough. This bill is even worse than we expected, and won't come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created. As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, 'the border never closes,'" Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Update 2/5/24, 10:53 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and to reflect that Newsweek reached out to Governor Kemp's office for comment.

Update 2/5/24, 11:46 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.