Pitched border battle pits Texas' 'self-defense' claim against federal government

The White House on Thursday pushed back hard on Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's latest showdown with President Joe Biden over who controls the southern border.

In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Abbott claimed the situation with immigrants crossing into Texas was an «invasion,» and that because Biden had not enforced the law, his state had a constitutional right to «self-defense.»

He said he would ignore any federal government effort to remove razor wire Texas had installed along the border with Mexico.

«The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the states,» Abbott alleged in the statement. «The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.»

He argued that the state's right of self-defense superseded any federal law, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Border Patrol could remove the razor wire. (Abbot's claim that a state has a right to «self-defense» has never been tested in court.)

«That authority is the Supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statues to the contrary,» he alleged. «The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.

Abbott had ordered the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety to put up the razor wire, specifically in Shelby Park, which is near the Eagle Pass section of the border, the site of heavy migrants crossing and a hotspot in the back and forth between the