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Landry wants to follow GOP governors who’ve sent National Guard troops to border [1]

['Greg Larose', 'More From Author', '- February']

Date: 2024-02-05  

Louisiana’s Jeff Landry was among the dozen Republican governors who converged Sunday at the Texas border with Mexico where Gov. Greg Abbott has squared off with federal border authorities over immigration policy.

The event sought to draw attention to what GOP state leaders say is the Biden administration’s failure to stop people from entering the U.S. illegally. The federal government has jurisdiction when it comes to immigration law, but it hasn’t stopped Abbott from putting up a razor wire barrier between the Rio Grande River and Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas.

Landry and his fellow GOP governors maintain states have the sovereign authority to protect themselves from threats such as illegal immigration. In a joint statement last month, 25 GOP governors affirmed what they see as Abbott’s right to defend the Texas border because the Biden administration refuses to do so.

Some governors have committed National Guard units to assist Texas with border enforcement, and Landry said he wants Louisiana to follow suit.

“When in trouble, our neighbors in Texas have always opened their arms to us. Now it’s time we return the favor,” Landry said in a statement. “I look forward to working with our legislative leadership to find a way to send our National Guard troops to the southern border to support Texas. The rule of law must be enforced.”

Courts have already weighed in on Abbott’s actions. In December, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting down the razor wire. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, vacated that decision last month.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was not in attendance at the Texas border Sunday. His schedule in Tallahassee was listed as “no scheduled events.” But last week, DeSantis said that he would deploy as many as 1,000 Florida National Guard troops, plus members of his Florida State Guard and law enforcement officers, to back up Texas in its standoff with the Biden administration.

Meanwhile in Washington, Republicans in the U.S. House have moved forward with their attempts to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has challenged Abbott’s power to restrict federal immigration officials from parts of Eagle Pass.

Over in the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, unveiled a $118.28 billion global security package Sunday night that includes a long-anticipated overhaul of immigration law. A bipartisan trio of senators crafted the deal, which has been a non-starter for far-right Republicans in the House.

The legislation would allow the border with Mexico to be closed if federal authorities count more than 4,000 encounters with migrants in a day, U.S. Sen. Krysten Sinema said during a Sunday morning interview on the CBS show “Face the Nation.” The independent from Arizona worked on the package with the White House and Sens. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, and Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut.

Sinema said the Senate proposal would end the policy known colloquially as “catch and release.” It allows detained migrants to live in U.S. communities while they await asylum hearings before an immigration judge,

Instead, Sinema said those migrants would be taken to a short-term detention center, where a quick asylum interview would determine whether that migrant meets the asylum requirements or should be swiftly removed.

Migrants who cannot be detained, such as families, would have a three-month asylum review, Sinema said.

Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.

This story was published earlier by the Louisiana Illuminator, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom network, which includes the Florida Phoenix.

The Phoenix contributed to this reporter.

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[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/02/05/landry-wants-to-follow-gop-governors-whove-sent-national-guard-troops-to-border/

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