Opinion

Mexican President Mocks Texas Efforts to Secure Border - They Must Be Doing Something Right

For years I’ve thought that the state of Texas could do more to secure its border with Mexico.

Nearly a decade ago, when Obama was president and Rick Perry was governor of Texas, I wrote an article entitled, "Texas' Rick Perry Could Seal The Border Himself—If He Had The Will."

It’s now 2024 and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has his border program, which is centered in the town of Eagle Pass, across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico.

Abbott has the Texas National Guard on the border. As a Texas National Guard veteran myself, I wish them well.

Some say Abbott isn’t doing enough, and certainly, we all wish more could be done.

But consider that he is doing more than any other border governor.

Gov. Abbott hasn’t backed down and has made a good case to the federal government that he is doing this because the feds aren’t doing their job. That’s absolutely right.

Abbott is constructing a permanent National Guard military base at Eagle Pass to house troops while they are on border duty. That’s a great idea, and it could be expanded.

It’s also encouraging that other states are cooperating by sending National Guard troops.

This is very compatible with how the National Guard is organized.

Unless a Guard unit is stationed somewhere for a special deployment, Guardsmen drill one weekend a month and for a two-week “Annual Training” period, usually in the summer.

When I was in the Texas Army National Guard, we’d usually do our two-week Annual Training at Fort Hood, the biggest military base in the United States. (Fort Hood was recently renamed, but it’s still Fort Hood to me.)

National Guard troops can and should be sent to the border to do their Annual Training and longer deployments there.

Guard units from various states rotating in and out of border duty would take pressure off Texas, as other states do their part, as well. After all, it’s the border of the United States, not just Texas.

Texas National Guard Engineers reinforce anti-climb barriers with razor wire. The ACB prevents illegal border crossers from entering Texas from Mexico. pic.twitter.com/Q9lVHgmqfO
— Texas Military Dept. (@TXMilitary) February 26, 2024

Thus far, there hasn’t been a violent confrontation between the Border Patrol and the National Guard and Civil War II has not broken out.

Of course, the President of Mexico knows about Gov. Abbott’s project. That’s not surprising, as the Mexican media and government pay close attention to U.S. border and immigration developments.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known by the initials AMLO, spoke mockingly about Gov. Abbott in a recent morning press conference in Mexico City.

AMLO was discussing domestic Mexican topics and suddenly started talking about Governor Abbott of Texas.

Here’s what AMLO said: “It’s like the governor of Texas, who just put a military camp there in Texas. Well, let him put all of them that he wants! Supposedly it’s going to stop migrants, right? Pure politicking, it’s not serious.”

For the record, this is not the first time AMLO has talked about Abbott.

Back in September of 2022, AMLO ranted in a couple of press conferences about Gov. Abbott.

“[T]he governor of Texas is talking about constructing a wall. We do not view that well, with all respect, that is vile propaganda," AMLO declared.

AMLO also objected to Abbott’s declaration that Mexican drug cartels are terrorist organizations.

And, the Mexican president made demographic threats against Gov. Abbott, predicting that American citizens of Mexican ancestry would oppose him.

For example, AMLO said, “…there are many Mexicans in Texas, many Hispanics…”

In contrast to the 2022 rants, this latest mention of Abbott’s military camp was in a mocking vein. AMLO wanted to show that he doesn’t take it seriously.

But if AMLO thinks Abbott’s border program is useless, then why even bring it up?

You can find more of Allan Wall's work at his website and Mexico News Report.