Texas Gov. Abbott slams feds for 'complete abandonment' of border laws amid 'unprecedented' migrant surge

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday tore into the Biden administration for what he described as a "complete abandonment" of enforcing the country’s immigration laws, as he warned of an "unprecedented" migrant surge that was forcing his state to take drastic action.

There were 180,000 migrant encounters in May alone, and that number is expected to remain about the same in June. It’s a massive increase from the number of encounters in similar months last year, where just 23,000 were encountered in May 2020. Republicans have blamed the migrant surge, as well as their release into the U.S. in some cases, on the rollback of border protections like the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and the halting of wall construction, while accusing the administration of focusing on processing migrants rather than removing them.