WASHINGTON — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, seeking about $11 billion to defray state spending on border security, didn’t come empty handed to Wednesday’s Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump.
Texas, he told Trump, can provide billions in assets to help the administration secure the border, enforce immigration laws and deport immigrants.
That includes land for building more border wall sections, military bases to house federal authorities and thousands of prison cells for use as detention facilities, he said.
Abbott cast his offer as akin to a real estate deal and said Trump understood where he was coming from.
“Texas can transfer to the United States of America value of well over 5 or 6 billion dollars of real assets on the ground that Texas put in place that will continue to secure the United States for decades to come,” Abbott told reporters outside the White House after the meeting.
Abbott’s battles with former President Joe Biden over the border helped raise his national profile as he sent Texas National Guard soldiers to the border, had buoys strung across the Rio Grande and ordered razor wire barriers erected in an effort to block migrants.
Abbott is seeking more than $11 billion from Washington to cover costs of Operation Lone Star, his 4-year-old border security initiative.
Trump’s election victory flipped the state’s relationship with the federal government, with Trump and Abbott closely aligned on border and immigration policies.
Abbott said the two discussed progress made since Trump took office. Illegal immigration into Texas has slowed to a “mere trickle,” Abbott said.
He talked up more than 56 miles of border wall the state has built, with 18 additional miles under construction. Abbott also said the state controls many more miles of land along the border that could be used for a wall.
Texas has built military bases in Eagle Pass and Del Rio that can house a combined total of nearly 2,500 soldiers, Abbott said, adding the facilities could serve as operating bases for the military, Border Patrol or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The state also has identified 4,000 prison cells federal agencies can use as detention facilities, he said.
“We’re just continuing to find ways we can assist the Trump administration in finally securing our border,” Abbott said.
Asked about Trump’s response to his pitch, Abbott said the president understood it.
“He has to talk to his advisers,” Abbott said. “He has to talk to Congress, just like I do.”
Abbott said he has been speaking to congressional leaders about the state’s reimbursement request and plans to return to Washington next week to continue making his pitch on Capitol Hill.
Some U.S. House Republicans have supported the request but questioned how quickly it could move through Congress.
U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, who serves on the Appropriations Committee, said last month it could take time, although most Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation are in favor of directing the money to the state.
“Because of the federal government’s inattention, Texas has had to spend that much,” Ellzey said.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said recently he and other members of the Texas delegation will fight for the reimbursement Abbott is seeking.
“Texas taxpayers should not have to foot the bill alone as a result of President Biden’s mishandling of border policy,” Cornyn said. “The federal government created this crisis, and it’s up to the federal government to pay the tab.”
Other states could be resistant to footing the bill for Texas operations, but Abbott argued they have a vested interest in seeing Texas succeed at the border, particularly in stopping the entry of fentanyl.
“Texas law enforcement alone has seized more than enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child in the United States, Canada and Mexico combined,” Abbott said. “We’ll never know how many lives were saved because of Texas law enforcement getting that fentanyl off the streets before it got into other states, killing people across the country.”
Shortly after his Oval Office meeting, Abbott joined Trump in an East Room ceremony where the president signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Abbott told reporters that Texas has already enacted similar laws and praised the executive order as establishing a common-sense standard for the entire country.
During the signing ceremony, Trump introduced various governors, U.S. senators and U.S. representatives who were in attendance. He also singled out Abbott.
“A great friend of mine and he’s really helped us at the border,” Trump said of the Texan.
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