“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
In just six hours at the border this week, we learned some of the most important truths about American politics.
For a few hours, America practically secured our southern border.
On Thursday afternoon, Texas’ Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced he’d had enough of Joe Biden’s incompetence and refusal to keep Texans safe, so he personally sent officers and National Guardsmen to the border to enforce our immigration laws.
“The sheer negligence of the Biden Administration to do their job and secure the border is appalling,” Gov. Abbott said in a press release on Thursday. “I have directed the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to surge personnel and vehicles to shut down six points of entry along the southern border to stop these caravans from overrunning our state.”
Abbott also told the whole country that he was doing it because the Border Patrol asked him to. “The border crisis is so dire that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is requesting our help as their agents are overwhelmed by the chaos,” Gov. Abbott said. “Unlike President Biden, the State of Texas remains committed to securing our border and protecting Americans.”
Abbott “is shutting down the ports of entry at the request of and in collaboration with CBP,” according to his spokesperson, Renae Eze.
BREAKING: In response to the situation at the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announces he is shutting down six points of entry along the border to “stop these migrant caravans from overrunning our state.”
Full statement from his office below @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/cvSxn2lBnv
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 16, 2021
Then, he did it. He rolled out the troops. Abbott shut down six ports of entry to the United States, where hoards of illegal aliens from Haiti and caravans of illegal immigrants from Central America planned to force their way into the country.
The media freaked out and demanded to know which ports were being closed—probably so they could tell the caravans (or whoever’s paying for them) which ones to avoid. Abbott wouldn’t say; he just said they were closed.
Our law enforcement and National Guard did such a great job of closing the six areas of the Texas border they enforced that President Joe Biden freaked out. He rushed out word that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection was “not seeking assistance” from Texas—and Texas needed to open up the border ports to illegal immigrants again.
Legal experts say that Abbott can’t close down these ports unless he has the administration’s permission, so he had to back down.
Abbott was incensed. “Six hours after U.S. Customs and Border Protection requested help from Texas to close ports of entry and secure the border, the Biden Administration has now flip-flopped to a different strategy that abandons border security and instead makes it easier for people to cross illegally and for cartels to exploit the border,” Gov. Abbott announced later on Thursday.
“The Biden Administration is in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan,” he said. But he wouldn’t totally back out of border security. “I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to maintain their presence at and around ports of entry to deter crossings,” he said.
Statement on Biden Administration reversing decision to close ports of entry: https://t.co/2esppWH7PO pic.twitter.com/sckvNMzdB2
— Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) September 16, 2021
The Houston Chronicle blamed the whole thing on Abbott.
“Unfortunately for Abbott, he and the state of Texas do not have unilateral authority to shut down U.S. Customs and Border Protection federal ports of entry, unless granted permission by CBP,” it smirked. “Abbott seems to have realized his mistake, sending out a second statement by email Thursday afternoon seemingly backtracking on his plans and blaming the Biden administration.”
But is that what really happened?
Joe Biden may be senile, but he’s not stupid: He knows he has a major catastrophe on his hands at the border. It’s a national embarrassment. Illegal immigration was up 400% this August compared to last year.
So, is it possible he secretly asked Gov. Abbott to help him out—then, when Abbott announced it, he got embarrassed and pulled the plug?
Either way, Biden could use the help.
So many illegal immigrants from Haiti are rushing into Texas that they’re being held under a bridge in the southern Texas town of Del Rio. Last Saturday, there were 2,500 people living under the bridge. That had grown to 8,400 by Thursday and nearly 10,000 by Friday, according to ABC News.
“Border Patrol is overwhelmed,” said Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez. “They just can’t process them fast enough,” so they make them huddle under a bridge.
Fox News sent a drone over the crowd to show how terrible it was, and the Biden administration was so outraged it shut down the drone.
Out of sight, out of mind.
To keep the issue alive Senator Ted Cruz, R-Tex., decided to broadcast live from the border in Del Rio, Texas, on Thursday night.
I am on the ground in Del Rio, Texas tonight. As of this moment, there are 10,503 illegal aliens under the Del Rio International Bridge.
This manmade disaster was caused by Joe Biden. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/VpzkrH1zyb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 17, 2021
All of this should teach Americans a few important lessons.
First of all, we can secure the border. For years, left-wingers have been telling America, “We can’t close the border. It’s too complicated.” Gov. Greg Abbott proved this week that they were lying all along.
All it took was one person with the guts to give the order, and our law enforcement did the job they signed up to do.
We also got confirmation about something we’d suspected for a long time: Joe Biden is the worst kind of politician there is. Not only won’t he close the border, where more than a million illegals have flooded into the country already this year, but he won’t let anybody else protect America, either.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”