The White House is not ruling out seizing control of the Texas National Guard as President Joe Biden and Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas) continue to have a standoff at the southern border over the state’s use of razor wire to reduce the record number of illegal immigrants pouring over the border.
After facing pressure from Democrats to “establish sole federal control” of the Texas National Guard as Abbott continues to defy Biden’s open-border policies, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre provided a response from the Biden administration during a CNN interview Thursday morning.
During Thursday’s interview, Jean-Pierre noted that federal Border Patrol agents are now allowed to remove the state’s razor wire due to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday.
“It’s unfortunate that we had to go there. It’s unfortunate that there is a governor in Texas, Governor Abbott, who has politicized this issue of what’s happening on the border,” Jean-Pierre said. “And it’s not making people’s lives safer; it’s actually making it harder for law enforcement at the border to do their job.”
Jean-Pierre claimed that the Biden administration has been “very clear” that it wants to “get something done at the border.” She added that the administration has been holding conversations with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate over the past several weeks to reach a “bipartisan agreement” on the border.
“And look, the governor is not interested in that,” she continued. “Governor Abbott is not interested in that. He wants to politicize an issue, and he’s not helping communities.”
The White House press secretary claimed that the Texas governor is causing Border Patrol agents to be put in “harm’s way” by ordering the Texas National Guard to defend the southern border.
READ MORE: Democrats demand Biden take control of Texas Nat’l Guard
The White House press secretary concluded, “I’m not going to speak to any actions that the president might take, may not take, but we’ve been very clear on this.”
In a separate press gaggle on Thursday, White House National Security Adviser John Kirby was questioned regarding whether the president would consider taking control of the Texas National Guard.
“We talked about this the other day,” Kirby told reporters. “I don’t have any decisions to speak to for the president. I don’t have anything on that.”
