RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: The latest Texas border stunt is cruel — and hypocritical
Everything is bigger in Texas. That includes the victim complex.
The Lone Star State — which has, in the 187 years since the siege at the Alamo, built its brand on rugged characteristics such as strength and independence — now hungers for our pity.
According to Gov. Greg Abbott, the state is heroically struggling to fend off an “invasion” along its border with Mexico. As Abbott spins the yarn, Texas was minding its own business when the state was suddenly overrun by migrants and refugees. This happened, the Republican insists, because the Biden administration failed to secure the border and instead put out a welcome mat for illegal immigrants. According to the governor, the state has the right to do what the federal government won’t: protect Texas’s sovereignty — by any means necessary.
At the same time, Abbott may be angling to be the running mate of whoever becomes the 2024 GOP presidential nominee. So he wants the eyes of the nation fixed upon Texas. Publicity stunts help with that.
Even so, the latest immigration stunt is especially cruel. Some Democratic critics are even calling it “barbaric.”
The state has placed a 1,000-foot string of buoys in the Rio Grande, 4 feet in diameter and anchored to the riverbed. The buoys are separated by sharp metal blades, ensuring that anyone who tries to swim between them will be mangled.
The Biden administration accuses Texas of exceeding its authority to regulate immigration policy and violating treaties with Mexico. Last month, the Justice Department asked a federal court to order Texas to remove the barriers, arguing they were installed without authorization.
When it comes to immigration, Abbott gets it all wrong.
First, the Biden administration has indeed been a miserable failure on the border. But that’s not because it’s gone soft. It’s because it has co-opted many of the Trump administration’s enforcement policies. In fact, the ACLU is suing the White House over its ban on asylum seekers who cross the border illegally.
Next, while Republicans love to portray themselves as defenders of the rule of law and tough on crime — at least when they’re not supporting a former president facing four criminal indictments — it is worth remembering that the process of migrants applying for refugee status is 100 percent legal.
Also, given that he was previously his state’s attorney general, you would think that Abbott would have at least a passing familiarity with a little document known as the U.S. Constitution. In Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, it makes clear that “the Congress shall have Power … to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.” Not the state of Texas.
And finally, there is no invasion going on here. Many of the migrants who enter Texas turn themselves over to Border Patrol agents and ask for asylum. Abbott should turn on CNN or Fox News and — from their coverage of the war in Ukraine — see for himself what a real invasion looks like. Then he could avoid absurd bursts of hyperbole.
Texas needs to take a deep breath. The vast majority of migrants and refugees who leave Central America and South America to cross the Rio Grande are harmless. In fact, they aim to be helpful. Whether they’re applying for asylum or just looking to improve their economic lot, these desperate souls do Texans’ chores — cleaning their homes, trimming their lawns and doing other dirty jobs that Americans won’t do — all to give their children better lives. According to reports by journalists who have interviewed migrants, many of them are coming to Texas because that’s where they have family members who made the same journey years ago — and who were welcomed with jobs.
Jobs are the real magnet. Immigrants in Texas account for more than 20 percent of the state’s workforce, according to a 2022 study released by Texans for Economic Growth, a statewide coalition of more than 125 businesses.
If he really wanted to get tough on immigration, Abbott would have erected buoys between migrants and the Texans who can’t wait to hire them. Cracking down on employers would surely get results, but Abbott doesn’t have the guts to upset the chamber of commerce. As Texas tough guys go, he’s all hat and no cattle.
Quit your whining, governor. It’s time to cowboy up and be grateful that good people are so eager to come to the Lone Star State and help its residents maintain their standard of living and preserve their quality of life.
Why not give the stunts a rest and just say “gracias”?
Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.
