"I have not yet heard back from the Biden administration," Abbott said during a press conference.
Abbott sent a letter to Biden on Monday requesting a federal emergency declaration in Texas in order to make available additional federal resources to deal with the influx of asylum-seeking migrants arriving at the US southern border.
Abbott said on Monday that a surge of migrants, mostly Haitians, that illegally crossed into the United States in Del Rio, Texas, increased from about 4,000 on Wednesday to more than 16,000 on Saturday. The influx poses life-threatening risks to residents in the region and is quickly overwhelming law enforcement resources, he added.