A federal hearing on Texas' work to install buoys on the Rio Grande is scheduled for next Tuesday. The Department of Justice has sued to prevent the state's effort to place the buoys.
DOJ argued since Texas is describing an "invasion," the issue is a matter of national defense, "which the Constitution specifically commits to the federal government," DOJ wrote in its arguments.
The Department of Justice says 80% of the buoy system already in place is on the Mexican side of the border and violates a law that requires federal permission for construction on a U.S. waterway.
Governor Greg Abbott countered that the federal government is not doing enough to keep the border secure.
"Know this: No state has done more to secure our border than the Lone Star State," Abbott said Friday.
Abbott said he expects the case to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying Texas uses the Department of Public Safety and National Guard at the border because the federal government is not providing enough security.
"Amazingly, Biden is failing at the most fundamental task a president has," he said. "One of the president's top jobs is national security."
In several speeches, Abbott has said the president should present Texas with a "thank you note and one of those big, oversized checks reimbursing Texas."
"The Constitution gives states the authority to secure our border when the federal government refuses to do so," Abbott said Friday. "I will do whatever it takes to defend our state from cartels that are invading our state and our country."
Abbott was speaking at the Young Republican National Convention at the Omni Hotel in Dallas.
"Your aggressive agenda is needed now more than ever, far more important than it's ever been," he told the crowd. "A political party that started with Abraham Lincoln is now in your hands."
Abbott plans a press conference in Eagle Pass Monday to talk about border security with the governors of Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
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