Half of U.S. governors support Texas after SCOTUS border ruling, DeSantis' ‘self-defense’ view

Governors mostly from conservative states all over the U.S. are expressing solidarity with Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott asserted the state's right to "self defense" amid the border crisis. Abbott received the support Thursday of all but one of the nation’s Republican state governors in his feud with the Biden administration over border security, according to The New York Post. 

Governors from 25 states signed onto a joint statement in support of Abbott and the Lone Star State’s “constitutional right to self-defense” the Post also reported.

"Enough is enough," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp wrote on the social media platform, X. "Our southern border is in crisis thanks to the Biden administration’s refusal to do their job. @GregAbbott_TX and the state of Texas have our full support."

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration by temporarily vacating a Fifth Circuit injunction preventing federal agents from cutting the "concertina" razor wire fencing that Texas placed along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Abbott responded to the ruling by reiterating the Lone Star state's right to defend itself amid an unprecedented surge in illegal border crossings and insisting that the Biden administration had failed in its duties and forced Austin's hand.

The Texas governor wrote in a social media posting that "Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants" and that he had "enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along the State's southern border." He also said that Texas would continue to "deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration."

Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton also responded to the Supreme Court vacating the stay imposed by the Fifth Circuit, saying in a statement that "The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” Attorney General Paxton said. “The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe. This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”

Governors from Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, West Virginia, Utah, Alabama, Idaho, Nebraska, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee posted their support for Abbott and Texas.

Former 2024 presidential candidate and current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the Sunshine State will continue to assist Texas with personnel and assets as it attempts to secure the border. 

"Texas has every right to stand its ground," DeSantis said in a video message. "We in Florida....we've been sending people to help for many years now because we understand it's not just a Texas issue. It's ultimately an American issue and if we don't have sovereignty in this country, then we aren't gonna be a country anymore."

Abbott said during an interview with Fox News that Texas has a right to defend itself against criminals coming in across the state. "There are criminals coming across our border," he said during the interview. "Texas has a right as a state to stop criminals from coming into our state."

The Homeland Security Department revealed last month that the backlog of tracking and vetting illegal aliens inside the U.S. has nearly doubled under Biden to over six million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.

Former acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan cheered on Abbott in his expected "constitutional showdown" with the Biden administration. 

"I applaud Governor Abbott," Morgan said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "I hope for every row of concertina wire that's removed, I hope he puts two back up, and I hope this is gonna lead ultimately to the constitutional showdown that is needed here."