GOP sources in Texas confirm that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will endorse former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination when the two meet on the US-Mexico border on Sunday.
Trump will join Abbott in Edinburg, Texas, for the governor’s annual pre-Thanksgiving tradition of feeding tamales to Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard soldiers stationed near the border south as part of the governor’s Operation Lone Star program.
Trump endorsed Abbott in 2021, when the governor was running for re-election and facing a series of primary threats from the right. Abbott was massively re-elected in March of last year, then easily defeated former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke in November to secure a third term as Texas governor.
According to people in the governor’s political circle, Abbott was grateful for Trump’s early endorsement last year, and now he appears to be returning the favor.
Trump, who is running for president for the third time, is the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination in 2024, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to behind the polls.
The former president’s visit to Texas to meet with Abbott near the border will focus attention on the explosive issue of illegal immigration and border security. The issue has long been on the minds of Republican voters, and GOP leaders and lawmakers have sharply criticized President Biden’s administration over the surge in migrant border crossings over the past two and a half years.
Trump has vowed if re-elected to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in US history, as well as reinstate travel bans and his 2019 “Remain in Mexico” program, which required only non-Mexican asylum seekers trying to enter the United States at the southern border to wait in Mexico until their cases are resolved.
Trump also stated that he will seek to repeal automatic citizenship for the US-born children of illegal immigrants, a proposal he championed during his presidency.
Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign has attacked Trump’s “scary” policies, claiming they will violate the US Constitution, the ideals of the nation and the rights of immigrants.
Border security has long been a priority for Abbott, who has clashed frequently with the Biden administration.
During a special session called by the governor, the Texas legislature this week enacted a controversial bill that allows state law enforcement authorities to arrest suspected unauthorized migrants. Democrats have strongly opposed the strict immigration law.
The Texas House on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 4, which criminalizes illegal immigration at the state level.
“The legislation would make it a misdemeanor for non-citizens to enter Texas improperly from a foreign nation, for example by swimming across the Rio Grande from Mexico,” the Texas Observer reported. “After arrest, the bill empowers magistrates or judges to, with the arrestee’s consent, order that person be returned to the nation from which they entered instead of being prosecuted. A person who refuses this option s ‘faces up to six months in prison, after which he will be subject to an identical order to leave the country and likely to be transported by police to the nearest international bridge. Refusal to comply with such self-deportation orders is a separate criminal offense”.
It will be interesting to hear former President Donald Trump’s thoughts on the Texas legislation during his border visit on Sunday.
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