As the White House responded to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday criticized President Joe Biden for not focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border.
After icy weather Thursday prevented a planned visit to Fort Worth, Abbott’s campaign posted a video on Facebook in which the governor criticized Biden’s border policy.
“It’s ironic that as we speak right now, Biden is focused on the border between the Ukraine and Russia,” Abbott said. “He should be focused on the border of the United States of America. And, you know, when you think of Russia, you think of terrorist sponsored nations. There have been people apprehended coming across the border from terrorist sponsored nations, and you know what, President Biden does not seem to care about it.”
The governor has repeatedly criticized Biden over the U.S. Mexico border, calling on the state to build a border wall and sending members of the Texas National Guard to the border.
Earlier in the day, Abbott said Texas stands with Ukraine and that the U.S. must work to “repel Putin’s invasion.”
“The State of Texas stands with the people of Ukraine in their fight for sovereignty,” he wrote on Twitter. “May God bless them and keep them safe. The United States must do all we can to repel Putin’s invasion.”
Asked for further comment on his remarks in the Facebook video and about Abbott’s assessment of Biden’s response to Russia’s attack, a campaign spokesperson pointed to Abbott’s tweet and Thursday interview with a radio station in which Abbott discusses the border.
In an interview with KTSA AM in San Antonio, Abbott said Biden had “bumbled” the situation and did not do enough to deescalate it.
“We’ll see whether or not Russia does this strike and then backs out,” he said. “But candidly, we are in a situation right now where it looks like it’s extraordinarily unpredictable what’s going to happen, and there’s great uncertainty about whether or not Biden and his allies are going to be able to do anything about it.”
An email requesting comment from the White House was not returned.
Four countries are designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. Department of State: Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria. U.S. Customs and Border Protection records show roughly 30,200 encounters with people from Cuba since October on the United State’s southwest land border — about 13,800 in Texas. The number of encounters for people from North Korea, Iran and Syria were not immediately available.
There have been about 371,800 encounters total for Texas’ portion of the Southwest land border since October, compared to more than a million from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021, and 247,100 from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 202, Custom and Border Protection records show.
Abbott’s remarks shared in the Facebook video come after Biden announced new sanctions against Russia. The sanctions are aimed at Russian banks, oligarchs and high-tech sectors.
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