The state of Texas one day will likely have to take the border situation into its own hands if the federal government won't help, as President Joe Biden is "just unaware of the challenges that are facing us," Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, who is running for his state's attorney general position, said on Newsmax Saturday.
"Texas is probably gonna have to assert its sovereignty and do the job of the federal government if they're not going to do it for us, whether that's constructing a wall on state lands or interdicting, apprehending, and prosecuting illegals understate trespassing law," Bush, a Republican, said on Newsmax's "Saturday Report."
"Texas is a big and bold state and we're going to have to do this job."
His comments come after Biden's misstep this week while confusing an appeal over the end of mask mandates with the upcoming end of the Title 42 COVID-19 entry restrictions, which the White House quickly straightened out.
But Bush said that Biden "can't even keep this straight," which would be "laughable if it weren't true."
"This president has been in office for what, over 40 years?" said Bush. "Experts say that he's never been to the Texas southern border."
Biden also hasn't discussed the situation with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott or with agents from Customs and Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or with Texas State Troopers, who are on the line every day.
"To miss this important policy when he's talking about mask mandates, rather than understanding what Title 42 is, just reflects this administration's inability to address a large national security concern," said Bush. "Look, Ukraine is important, but this is our own southern border."
Meanwhile, a member of the Texas National Guard remained missing Saturday morning, after he was last reported attempting to rescue migrants from drowning in the Rio Grande River Friday, and Bush said that shows the "level of sacrifice" law enforcement officials are using at the border.
The Guard said in a statement that it had to cease dive rescue operation for the missing person late Friday because of the strength of the river's current and hoped to resume the search Saturday.
Bush said he and his wife, Rita, were at the border for the past three days and noted that the Rio Grande Valley sector encounters 40% of all illegal encounters.
But the open borders policy being used through the Biden White House is leading people on both sides of the aisle to say "enough is enough," particularly when it comes to lifting the Title 42 policy that has kept thousands of immigrants out of the United States, said Bush.
He added that Abbott is "absolutely right" for busing immigrants to Washington, D.C., so when they arrive on their doorstep, "that is what we encounter on our southern border every single day in Texas."
Lifting Title 42, he added, will result in at least 18,000 encounters a day with immigrants at the border, bringing the overall annual figure from 2 million more in the country to 4 million.
"Look, I speak to you as the son of a legal immigrant, and this is why so many areas of south Texas are turning Republican," said Bush, the son of Jeb Bush and his wife Columba, who was born in Mexico.
"There was a time in our country where we honored those that patiently went through the process, but now we have a broken promise from President Biden and also Kamala Harris that you can come to our country and receive all the benefits that we've talked about, transportation, healthcare, and education. But yet it's an unfunded mandate on a state like Texas."
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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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