Border crisis: Gov. Abbott challenges Supreme Court decision

AUSTIN, Texas - Gov. Abbott continues to snub Monday's Supreme Court ruling that Border Patrol agents can cut razor wire installed by the state of Texas on the border. 

The governor posted a letter today saying the federal government has broken its compact with the states for ignoring the constitutional duty to enforce federal laws, including immigration. 

FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren spoke with Democratic analyst Ed Espinosa and Matt Mackowiak, chair of the Travis County Republican Party, for their perspective. 

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MIKE WARREN: Matt Mackowiak, the governor and a lot of Texas lawmakers are upset with the Supreme Court. Should they be?

MATT MACKOWIAK: They should. In this case, you had Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, two of the so-called conservatives appointed by Republicans, join with the Liberal majority. It is extremely disappointing. And what's so striking here is that it would be one thing if the feds were enforcing federal law and the state had a different opinion. That would be a totally different legal question, constitutional question. In this case, the federal government is ignoring federal law, and they're harming the state of Texas by literally undoing border security efforts the state of Texas is doing, which should be a federal responsibility picked up by the federal government. It's important to understand one thing about this decision: this is not a decision that says Texas cannot do it forever. It says the feds can cut the wire while the Court of Appeals considers the appeal, in front of the full court, I think that hearing is set for either Feb. 7 or Feb. 8. So it's a decision that's in place for a week or two or maybe a little longer before they make a decision. But it is not a final decision.

MIKE WARREN: Ed, what is your take on the Supreme Court's ruling?

ED ESPINOZA: Well, I think with the Supreme Court siding with the Biden administration here, shows that the Supreme Court does not think that Biden is violating federal law, that, in fact, the border is a federal jurisdiction. Now, the issue at stake here is one that is a theme amongst Gov. Abbott's border antics, which is that he put some things in place to cause bodily harm to people crossing the border. Now we can talk about border crossings and we could talk about immigration policy. But there is a humanitarian element here, and that is a razor wire that resulted in three deaths recently, in which state troopers prevented the Border Patrol from providing assistance to those people while they were dying. That is a bigger issue here. And let's not forget that Abbott recently went on record saying that he would shoot people crossing the border if he wouldn't be charged with murder. These are really undermining any other thing he has to say about border crossings, and it's a bigger problem.

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MIKE WARREN: Okay, so far we don't believe the governor has shot anybody at the border. That aside, talking about this fight with the Supreme Court, Matt, what is next?

MATT MACKOWIAK: So the state has denied, that what I just mentioned related to that park that was under city control and Eagle Pass and whether the feds were denied access. Look, Gov. Abbott's not trying to cast bodily harm anyone. He's trying to repel people from entering illegally. Eagle Pass is a town of 40,000 people. They have days where 20 or 25,000 illegal immigrants come into their city. So the state of Texas wants to secure the border. They want to know who we have coming in. They want to prevent terrorists and other bad people from coming in. They want to ensure that we know who's coming in, and they want to protect our state. Federal government stands on the other side of that. Now, where this goes next is the Fifth Circuit will hold a full hearing. I think it's either Feb. 7 or Feb. 8 on the underlying issue, and then it could get appealed to the Supreme Court again. But obviously the Biden administration got a victory here. It's gonna be interesting to see how Texas fights back. I think the governor is very committed to continuing to fight to protect Texas.

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MIKE WARREN: Ed, talking about the governor's policy on the border. Could you describe it a little bit more for us, how you see it?

ED ESPINOZA: Well, I think there's obviously a need for border security, but there's also a need for humanitarian infrastructure. And that is what is missing on the border here. And that is the thing that the governor has no interest in. His only interest is making political stunts on the border that can he can thump his chest when it comes around election time. Now, if he really wanted to have some sort of policy on the border where we could mitigate the issues that are happening there, I think that he would want to work closely with the federal government rather than try to challenge the federal government. But we don't see that happening. And in fact, there is an immigration bill in Congress right now that Sen. Cornyn is in favor of, but Republicans in the House are stalling on. That is a perfect example of progress that could be possible, but is being road blocked by the very people who say we need it. We need to cut the rancor and divisiveness and try to find a way forward together here. It doesn't seem like they're very interested in doing that though.

MATT MACKOWIAK: House Republicans passed a border security bill already.