Texas began with a border made of shipping containers all along the U.S.- Mexico border to prevent people from crossing. This doesn’t seem to be enough for them and recent plans have been made to increase security. Ash Jurberg, a news contributor, comments on this and states that Texas “has entered into contracts for border barriers totaling more than $900 million.” State power is lower than federal laws but Texas is frustrated with the immigration going on and decided to take matters into their own hands. The Supremacy Clause led to the removal of this shipping container border. There are many supporters when it comes to the border and there was even a 50 million dollar donator.
Governor Greg Abbott says that ever since 2021 when Biden became president, there has been a spike in immigrants coming to the U.S. This required lots of negotiation with private landowners since they were building the wall on private property. The Texas Facilities Commission approved a 167 million dollar contract to make the wall in the Del Rio area. Abbott wasn’t happy about Biden’s administration making Arizona take down their shipping container border and suing them. Biden’s open door policy has caused a crisis in the southern borders. Since Texas has job opportunities and doesn’t cost much to call home, immigrants are drawn there, causing this crisis. There are mixed feelings on the border being built but by law, Abbott isn’t allowed to close off border entries. Texas feels that since the federal government isn’t making new immigration laws, they should take matters into their own hands. This could go bad for Texas since they don’t have legal permission. They tried to secede once in the past but could this be another attempt? There could be federal law displaces or preemption on Texas since they aren’t complying with the federal laws. The supremacy clause may have to come into effect or the federal laws could be revised.