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Texas Governor Says Both Republicans and Democrats in State Denounce Biden Immigration Policy

US border officials are dealing with significant illegal migrants influx from Central America as US president Joe Biden has abolished previous administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, suspending the US-Mexico wall construction, halting the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) and accepting migrant children that came unaccompanied.
Sputnik

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that not only Republicans oppose Biden’s border policies and seek to push to restore some of Trump’s initiatives, but as the number of illegal immigrants sneaking into the country was predicted to rise, so also do Biden's fellow Democrats.

"This is a bipartisan response to the Biden administration because you have Democrat members of the United States Congress, you have Democratic members of the state legislature, as well as Democrat local officials who are pushing back against the Biden administration as much as conservatives in the state of Texas," he said, talking at "Fox News Sunday."

Referring to the problem of immigrant children who were allowed by the Biden administration to stay in the US if they crossed the border without an adult, Abbott noted that “this problem will continue to get worse.”

According to him, the current administration should “immediately put back in place the 'remain in Mexico' protocols,” adopted by Trump to make applicants from Central America seeking asylum in the US wait in Mexico while formal proceedings are completed, a process that can take years.

"He could continue to build the wall along the border in south Texas," Abbot suggested, adding, "He could send a stronger message that these people should not be coming here."

The governor also repeated earlier statements about a San Antonio facility in which unaccompanied minors are temporary held, and claimed that there were cases of “sexual abuse, malnutrition, and a novel coronavirus outbreak.”

"Today, the Biden administration has done nothing to address these situations that will lead only to more allegations of child sex abuse," the governor said.

The US border has faced an unprecedented immigration surge amid Biden’s relaxed border policies. Temporary facilities are overwhelmed, while reportedly nearly 172,000 people have illegally crossed the border throughout March.

In addition, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported that over 20,000 migrant children are currently housed in facilities that face space and staff shortages.

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