Biden blocks Texas law allowing police to arrest illegal migrants at border

We’ve got your back … a participant in the Take Back Our Border rally in Texas against migrants crossing from Mexico shows his support for Donald Trump – Go Nakamura/Reuters

Joe Biden has succeeded in blocking a Texas law that would allow police to arrest illegal migrants on the border.

A federal court on Thursday sided with the government after Mr Biden’s administration argued that allowing state police to enforce border security was a violation of the US Constitution.

The ruling will likely be appealed at the Supreme Court by Greg Abbott, the Republican Texas governor, who is locked in several legal battles with Mr Biden over his border security measures.

Mr Abbott had argued that state police should be allowed to arrest people suspected of entering the US illegally by crossing the Rio Grande into Texas from Mexico.

However, Judge David Ezra of the Western District of Texas said the law “slaps the federal immigration law in the face” by violating the federal government’s exclusive right to enforce border security.

Campaigners have argued the law would also make it harder for refugees to seek asylum in the US.

The ruling came ahead of Mr Biden’s visit to Brownsville and Donald Trump’s trip to Eagle Pass – an illegal migration hotspot.

Mr Trump claimed that Joe Biden only decided to visit the Texas border because of him, as the pair clashed over immigration.

The two 2024 US presidential hopefuls announced visits to the southern border on Thursday to address the country’s pressing immigration problem as they head into the election.

“In a last-minute trip, Biden is chasing me to the border, no doubt desperate to shirk blame for the catastrophe he has caused,” Mr Trump wrote in the Daily Mail.

He went on to accuse the US President of deliberately importing “millions of illegal aliens”, including “fighting aged men”, into the country.

A spokesperson for Mr Trump said: “Biden chasing us to the border on the same day shows just how big of a problem this is for him”.

Earlier this week, when it became clear that the president and his main Republican rival would be at the border at the same time, Mr Biden told reporters: “I planned it for Thursday – what I didn’t know was that my good friend apparently is going.”

Immigration will be one of the biggest issues in this year’s presidential election and the border visit came ahead of the state’s primary on March 5.

The increased focus on border security comes after the alleged killing of a US student on a Georgia university campus by an undocumented migrant from Venezuela, which has turbo-charged the already fractious row over the border.

The death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia, has transformed the town of Athens into the latest flash point in the political fight over immigration.

Mr Trump pinned the blame for her death on Mr Biden’s immigration policies, writing: “An illegal alien migrant who was released into our country under Biden has been charged with her killing.

“Biden is preposterously trying to blame me and Congressional Republicans for the national security and public safety disaster he has created.”

Mr Biden, he claimed, had ended construction of a wall to keep out migrants from Mexico, suspended deportations, dismantled asylum agreements and stripped powers from border agents.

Republicans at the state and national levels are now arguing for tougher immigration tactics as a result of Ms Riley’s alleged murder at the hands of a migrant.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Mr Trump called the suspect in the killing, Jose Antonio Ibarra, a “monster”, saying that he would “immediately seal the border” if he returned to office.

He added: “On Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History.”

The former president also took aim at Mr Biden, accusing him of failing to stop an “invasion” that is “destroying our country and killing our citizens”.

Mr Biden chose to visit Brownsville, Texas, where the number of migrants crossing the border is at a relatively low level.

The White House said he will meet with Border Patrol agents, law enforcement officials, front-line personnel, and local leaders where he will once again call on Congress to pass the bipartisan border deal blocked by Senate Republicans on Mr Trump’s direction.

In a statement, Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Counsel, said: “Biden is going to the border now solely to try to save himself. Border security should never be about politics, it should always be about the safety and security of this great nation and the American people.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump chose a section of the border in Eagle Pass, about 300 miles away.

The United States has the highest immigrant population in the world, according to Pew Research Center, an American-based think tank, with most coming from Mexico, which borders Texas.

However, the number of migrants crossing into the US as a whole has declined in recent weeks, falling 50 per cent since the end of December.

Texas has also seen a large decrease in migrants crossing into the state, with many heading for Arizona or California instead.

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