Governor Abbott Statement On Vice President Harris’ Yearslong Border Failure

July 31, 2024 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Governor Greg Abbott today issued a statement on Vice President Kamala Harris’ continued refusal to address the border crisis. Three years ago, Governor Abbott sent Vice President Harris a letter soon after she was appointed Border Czar by President Joe Biden, urging her to visit the border to see the crisis for herself and to take swift action to secure the border.
 
“More than three years ago, I sent a letter to Vice President Harris,” said Governor Abbott. “I implored the Vice President, in her capacity as President Biden’s point-person on illegal immigration, i.e. Border Czar, to take swift action to address nine urgent concerns, including cracking down on human trafficking and preventing more children from being trafficked and abused as a result of the border crisis. I also invited her, in her capacity as Border Czar, to visit the border and see firsthand the crisis in her country under her leadership. Since Vice President Harris received my letter detailing these dangerous concerns, tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors allowed to cross the border under the Biden-Harris Administration have gone unaccounted for. Those are potential child trafficking victims who have been left to endure unspeakable horrors.
 
Moreover, despite my letter and similar demands by Americans across the country, Vice President Harris has refused to see up close the millions of illegal immigrants that her Administration allows to cross the border illegally. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, more than 11 million illegal immigrants have entered our country – that's almost four times the population of Houston. Among those illegal entries, 383 known terrorists have been apprehended attempting to illegally cross. 
 
Vice President Harris has never bothered to respond to my letter or even trouble herself to see the border crisis that she helped create. 
 
To make matters worse, Vice President Harris has insisted that immigrants crossing the border illegally are not criminals. In addition to the federal law that makes it a crime, there are frequent examples across the country that prove her wrong. Two recent attacks by violent illegal immigrants in Texas alone left victims in their wake. 
 
Jocelyn Nungaray would be alive today, and the San Antonio police officer, shot by an illegal immigrant last weekend, would be unharmed had Vice President Harris taken her job seriously. 
 
As Vice President Harris visits Texas again this week, I once again implore her to take action to stem the tide of Americans being assaulted and killed by illegal immigrants. A positive step toward that goal is to support the Justice for Jocelyn Act in the United States Senate and work with U.S. Senators to get it passed.”