As a result of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s attempts to tighten the state’s border, Kari Lake is sounding the alarm that Arizona might soon be overrun by illegal immigration.
Lake was a candidate for governor of Arizona in 2022. However, she was defeated by her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, by a hair. Despite Lake’s repeated denials and rejections by Hobbs in court, she maintained that the election had been rigged against her.
Lake’s remarks about Abbott were made in response to statistics indicating a spike in migrant detainments in the state in recent months.
Abbott has sent thousands of Texas National Guard troops to the border with Mexico, where razor wire has been strung across important crossing locations. (Federal officials may remove this wire, according to a Supreme Court ruling on January 22.) This made Abbott irate, who said his state was experiencing an “invasion” and used its constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.
As soon as she had taken office, Lake—who is very close to Donald Trump—said she would have followed Abbott’s lead and used tactics like physical barriers across the border and possibly even asked other Republican states to send National Guard contingents to help.
A recent report by CBS News based on data from within the federal government indicates that the percentage of illegal border crossings in the US is currently 60% in California and Arizona, with Texas’ portion declining.
The governor of Texas has also said that his state’s increased border security is diverting the flow of illegal migrants away from it. The only state putting up any fight is Texas. Therefore, the cartels have altered their routes to cross the border, he noted.
According to Lake, the Biden administration’s immigration policies amount to the most significant human trafficking operation the world has ever known, and states should respond by taking action since the federal government is failing to address the issue.
Last week, conservative Republicans scuttled a bipartisan immigration and foreign assistance package that President Biden had supported, claiming it wasn’t stringent enough. In addition to providing an extra $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine, the proposal would have increased the detention capacity of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 34,000 to 50,000 and would have automatically closed the border to the majority of migrants if there were an average of more than 5,000 crossing attempts per day over seven days.
When asked whether Abbott’s tightening of Texas’s border defenses led to increased illegal immigration into Arizona, Lake said, “Without a doubt.”
