THE BORDER:...Weeks Into A Rough Hoe At The Supreme Court, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott Is Not Obeying High Court Dictates...Going To Wall The Mexican Border Whether It Needs It Or Not...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It's getting to where you no longer know who the law intown is from one day to the next. Do the sheriffs of border counties have a say in local problems? The state, as in its governor? The federal government, as in designated agencies? Or, is it the U.S. Supreme Court?

It used to be the Supreme Court's rulings were firm and final.

Well, in most cases, they still are, only not in Texas Governor Greg Abbott's head. He is above the nation's highest court when it comes to say and doing what cruises his brain on things to do with the Mexican border.

In Republican Abbott's air-conditioned world, there is a relentless, unstoppable invasion of immigrants at the Lone Star State's lengthy southern border, especially over by Eagle Pass west of here. Abbott has been headstrong in his approach to walling-off an invasion that seems to be more a political watercolor than an actuality. He has stationed large numbers of state troopers and state guardsmen to make sure the world knows he is serious about halting wave after wave of immigrants he sees breeching the demarcation line.

The U.S. Border Patrol is there, as well, only Abbott sees them as part of the problem. In fact, these days, he would rather the Feds stay out of Texas on things to do with, in his word, "securing" the border, which, really, he has not yet done.

This from newsweek.com: [ Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to leave controversial buoys in the Rio Grande after the Supreme Court blocked a new state law targeting suspected illegal migrants from taking effect on Monday.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Abbott said the buoys would stay in the river, the building of a wall would continue and the Texas National Guard would erect razor wire barriers along the Texas-Mexico border.

Tensions have surged between Texan and federal authorities over how to respond to a surge in irregular migration across the southern border in recent months.

On January 22 the Supreme Court ruled federal agents could remove razor wire placed along the border on Abbott's orders. This sparked a furious response from Abbott who claimed his state was being subject to an "invasion" and invoked "Texas's constitutional authority to defend and protect itself." ]

It hasn't happened.

To the governor, the Supreme Court may as well be the President Joe Biden household in Delaware. Greg Abbott is a one-man court watching the border and issuing rulings willy-nilly. He has the support of the Republican-led state legislature.

So, what should the citizenry take from the governor's recalcitrance - that laws are not for everybody, that a governor can do whatever he damn well pleases and not face consequences? Well, yeah, that seems to exactly be his take on all of this.

The Border Patrol has not moved on the razor wire fencing Abbott has installed on a rather small stretch of the Mexican Border. And he has not moved a finger to rid the Rio Grande of his orange-colored buoys, as has also ruled a court. Never mind that neighboring Mexico has lodged complaints with the Biden Administration.

It's all a dog & pony show, of course.

Greg Abbott would not be doing any of this if the federal government had a Republican at the helm.

You know it and I know...and he knows it.

Everybody knows it...

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