Texas GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday vowed that the Lone Star State would continue to deploy razor wire along the southern border with Mexico amid a legal dispute between Washington and Austin over federal agents cutting through the fencing.
The Supreme Court last week lifted an injunction against the feds that had restricted them from cutting through the fencing except in the event of a medical emergency. At issue is a roughly 110-mile stretch of concertina wire deployed along the Rio Grande riverbank. The top court did not rule on the merits and the case remains in front of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Patrick, for his part, insisted the state would continue to deploy razor wire along the border and pursue its own efforts to secure the frontier in the face of perceived federal apathy toward the unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings.
"We are putting up wire, Martha, everywhere we can… We will continue. We will not stop. If they cut it, we will replace it," he told Fox News, according to The Hill. Such a move does not defy the Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton clarified last week.
"All they did was say that the injunction is gone so that supposedly the feds can cut down wire. But that doesn't mean we have to help them or that we're gonna allow them on to our property to do it. So we're not defying anything," he said on the "Just the News, No Noise" television show.
Patrick, moreover, recalled his visit to the border on Friday, saying "I was down there Friday with our troops to thank them, support them, and also to stand with them in the event the Biden administration did send Border Patrol there."
"Wisely, they did not. We’re thankful they did not. We don’t want a confrontation, but we want this border secure," he went on.
The ongoing dispute between Texas and Washington has led to many prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and most Republican governors to throw their support behind Texas GOP Gov. Abbott.
Trump, for his part, urged states last week to "deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of Illegals, and to remove them back across the Border."
"All Americans should support the commonsense measures by Texas authorities to protect the Safety, Security, and Sovereignty of Texas, and of the American people," he went on.
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