Texas governor using millions in taxpayer funds for Trump-like border wall project

Mr Abbott has no legal authority to enforce immigration laws

Texas Governor Greg Abbott visits Mission, on the US-Mexico border (AP)

The governor of Texas is directing nearly $40m in additional public funds for projects related to his desire to finish former president Donald Trump’s aborted wall along the US-Mexico border.

Governor Greg Abbott on Friday said the Lone Star State has begun construction on roughly $38m worth of state-funded sections of border barriers built on state-owned land. The barriers, which are built by the same materials and methods as Mr Trump’s border barrier using the same contractor, purportedly fill in gaps in the barriers constructed on federal land during the Trump administration.

In September, Mr Abbott signed legislation allocating nearly $2bn towards various purported border security projects, with $750m going to barrier construction in addition to a quarter-billion approved last summer as part of another $1.05bn border appropriations bill.

Mr Abbott and other Republicans frequently claim President Joe Biden has enacted an “open border” policy because he stopped construction of the border barrier — a pet project of Mr Trump and his hardline immigration adviser Stephen Miller — and has tried to reverse Trump-era policies meant to make it more difficult for nonwhite migrants from South and Central America to claim asylum in the United States, a right guaranteed under both US and international law.

On Friday, Mr Abbott retweeted a Fox News reporter’s tweet sharing photos of the state-funded barrier along with the comment: “Biden allows open border policies and refuses to enforce laws passed by Congress to secure the border and enforce immigration laws”.

“Texas is stepping up to do the federal government’s job,” he added.

In reality, neither Mr Biden nor his administration advocate for an “open borders” policy, but the term has long been used by Republicans to describe any immigration policy under which nonwhite immigrants are permitted to claim asylum after reaching American territory.

Mr Abbott has also enacted other policies which purport to enforce federal immigration law —something he, as a state official, has no jurisdiction over — including using state law enforcement to arrest asylum seekers for trespassing so they can be jailed.

In July, the Department of Justice sued Mr Abbott and the state of Texas after he signed an order directing the Texas Department of Public Safety to stop vehicles suspected of carrying migrants and turn them back towards the US-Mexico border.

Earlier this month, more than 100 immigrant and civil rights groups filed a 50-page complaint asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to intervene to end Mr Abbott’s migrant trespassing arrest policy by cutting off a significant portion of Texas’ federal funds.

Led by the American Civil Liberties Union, the groups have accused Texas of creating “what is in reality a system of state immigration enforcement that targets Black and Brown– primarily Latinx– individuals for prosecution and enhanced punishment”.

“Texas has created a separate criminal prosecution and detention system for these individuals, with separate criminal dockets, separate public defender assignments, separate jails (converted state prisons), and even a separate “criminal migrant processing facility” for booking. This separate system is riddled with civil rights violations, including failure to appoint counsel, failure to timely file charges, and even the unilateral replacement of judges,” they wrote.