Biden threatens Texas with legal action over closing of migrant detention facilities

The Biden administration is threatening to pursue legal action against Texas if Republican Gov. Greg Abbott doesn't revoke his order to shut down federally funded shelters for unaccompanied migrant children.

Abbott announced last week the state would by August 30 shutter over 50 shelters housing roughly 4,000 unaccompanied migrant children. The shelters are licensed by the state but are operated by the federal government, causing a legal question over Abbott's decision to shutter the facilities.

In a letter Monday by Paul Rodriguez, the deputy general counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services, which is charged with the care of migrant children who come into the country, he tells Abbott the Biden administration would pursue legal action if he closed those facilities.

"(The Office of Refugee Resettlement) operates 52 state-licensed facilities in Texas, which comprise a significant portion of ORR’s total operational footprint and represent an indispensable component of the federal immigration system,"  Rodriguez says in the letter, obtained by the Associated Press.

Rodriguez said Abbott's move "would be a direct attack on this system." and added that "HHS is consulting the U.S. Department of Justice and intends to pursue whatever appropriate legal action is necessary."