Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday formally announced that Texas will build its own border wall, as he accused the Biden administration of abandoning its responsibility to protect the southern U.S. border.
“Today we are announcing that Texas will build a border wall in our state to help secure our border,” Abbott said at a press conference.
Abbott also announced a $250 million down payment to begin the project, allowing the state to hire a project manager and get the task underway. He said that it would be built on a combination of state land and donations of private land.
“My belief, based upon conversations that I’ve already had, is a combination of state land as well as volunteer land will yield hundreds of miles to build a wall in the state of Texas,” he said.
He blasted the Biden administration’s policies on the border, which he described as having led to “carnage” from people coming over.
“Make no mistake, the border crisis that we’re dealing with right now is a direct result of the open border policies that have been put in place by the Biden administration,” he said.
Later, he said that the Biden administration “has abandoned its responsibility to apply federal law to secure the border and enforce the immigration laws.”
“In the federal government’s absence, Texas is stepping up to get the job done.”
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