Joe Biden has sparked fresh fury over illegal immigration as Texas fumes at Washington’s decision to block its law allowing police to arrest people crossing the Mexican border.
A federal court on Thursday sided with Biden’s administration after the 46th President argued allowing state police to enforce border security was a violation of the US Constitution.
The ruling will likely go to the Supreme Court as Lone Star State Governor Greg Abbott continues to ask questions of Biden over his border security measures.
Abbott argued state police should be allowed to arrest migrants suspected of entering the US illegally via the Rio Grande.
Joe Biden is coming under increasing pressure over the southern border crisis
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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.
The ruling comes ahead of Biden’s visit to Brownsville and Republican rival Donald Trump’s trip to Eagle Pass.
Trump, who made the most of illegal immigration as an electoral issue in 2016, claimed Biden only decided to visit the Texas border because of the pressure he is exerting on the White House.
Trump wrote in The Daily Mail: “In a last-minute trip, Biden is chasing me to the border, no doubt desperate to shirk blame for the catastrophe he has caused.”
The US President was also accused by his predecessor of deliberately importing “millions of illegal aliens” into the country, including “fighting aged men”.
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The migrant crisis is continuing to cause problems in Texas
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A Trump spokesperson added: “Biden chasing us to the border on the same day shows just how big of a problem this is for him”.
However, Biden told reporters: “I planned it for Thursday – what I didn’t know was that my good friend apparently is going.”
Immigration could prove a vital issue in the Lone Star State’s primary races on March 5.
It has increased in salience yet again after the alleged killing of a US student on a Georgia university campus by an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.
Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at the University of Georgia, turbocharged the debate.
Joe Biden is also receiving broadside shots from Republican rival Donald Trump
REUTERSTrump blamed 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.”
Trump also labelled 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.”
In a statement, National Border Patrol Counsel chief Brandon Judd also 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.”