Rep. Brian Babin, whose home state of Texas is fighting legal battles to protect its border with Mexico, said Thursday on Newsmax that he's "never been so apprehensive about our national security than I am here under the Biden administration."
"The Democrats are willing to shut our government down, and here we are trying to keep our government open," the Texas Republican said on "Wake Up America." "They're willing to shut our government down to keep the border open. This is what's going on in our border today under the Biden administration."
His comments come in response to an interview given by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, who told MSNBC that the Texas border law, which the state used to take over border enforcement is a "right-wing, reactionary piece of policy," that it's unconstitutional, and called it an "absolute disaster" that violates civil rights.
"Nothing is being enforced," said Babin. "All they're doing is processing and trying to make it happen at a greater rate. He calls this a right-wing type of conspiracy… he's a progressive liberal, open-borders Democrat and loves to call things racism, and what have you, but we have the right to protect ourselves."
But what's going on at the border, said Babin, "is the biggest breach of national security since 9/11. The state of Texas alone has caught 132,000 criminals coming across the border."
He added that the numbers mean that the United States is "set up perfectly to be hit again by terrorist activity [because] we've got millions of people coming across this border streaming in from 170-plus countries. We have no idea who these people are."
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court earlier this week issued a ruling that allows Texas to arrest and deport illegal migrants, but a federal appeals court stayed the ruling and heard arguments Wednesday. No new ruling has been made.
"You would think that the Supreme Court could override the Fifth Circuit, but let's hope that this will work its way out and Texas will be able to begin arresting and even putting them back across the border," said Babin. "The federal government's job and mandate is to protect, uh, states from invasion, and they're not doing their job."
Several other states are passing immigration laws, and Babin said that's because of the "massive crime waves being committed by illegal immigrants."
"Of course, we have our own homegrown criminals because of the Democrat defunding of police departments," said Babin. "That's been going on for three years now or longer. I think states are waking up."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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