Texas governor plans to resume construction of Trump's border wall with or without President Biden's help

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced this month that his state would provide a $250 million "down payment" to begin construction on a border wall between Texas and Mexico. But critics question whether states have the authority to act on immigration, a responsibility they claim falls to the federal government.

Video transcript

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GOV. GREG ABBOTT: Building the wall in Texas has officially begun. The letter that we are about to sign provides $250 million to be allocated as a down payment to begin the border wall. In the federal government's absence, Texas is stepping up to get the job done.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS: Today, we're here to announce that the state of Florida is answering the call. Florida is going to support Texas and Arizona.

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DOMINGO GARCIA: My name is Domingo Garcia. I'm the National president of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. We believe that the governor has no authority, constitutional, under state law or federal law to build a wall or to arrest immigrants for trespassing. The U S Constitution clearly says that only the federal government can do that and that means President Biden and Border Patrol. And we believe it's going to be illegal, and we're going to sue him. We believe we'll be able to stop it in federal court.

The fact of the matter is there's no invasion of Texas. This is just what's happened since the Irish, the Germans, the Jews. Every immigrant group in the United States faced similar criticisms, similar attacks, and they were wrong then. Pizza didn't corrupt the United States. Hotdogs didn't destroy America and neither will fajitas and margaritas. So when Governor Abbott talks about building the wall, the wall is not going to do anything. It's a 13th century solution to a 21st century problem.

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