Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, said in a podcast interview it was deplorable that Vice President Kamala Harris laughed at questions about when she would visit the U.S.-Mexico border to get a firsthand look at the southern border crisis.
In March, President Joe Biden announced Harris would take charge of the immigration surge from Central America.
"It's reprehensible that we have the czar for the United States in charge of the border, Kamala Harris, laughing, literally laughing about going to the border," Abbott said during the interview with the Ruthless podcast.
"Let me tell you what’s not a laughing matter. And that’s the way people in Teas and other people on the border in New Mexico and Arizona and even California they way they’re being harmed."
Abbott said he had not heard from Harris despite Texas being at the center of the migrant problem.
"The president hasn't called, the vice president hasn't called. The only person I've talked to are some folks in the Department of Homeland Security, and that was a long time ago,” said Abbott, who added Biden and Harris are "pretending" the crisis does not exist as thousands of migrants arrive at the border daily.
Asked if he felt like he and Texas were on their own in dealing with the crisis, Abbott responded, "we are."
"We feel like a frontier outpost going back in the mid 1800s where the federal government would rarely show up," he said, The Hill reported.
On Thursday, Abbott announced he would do the "job of the federal government" in securing the U.S. border by announcing a number of moves, including picking up the building of the border wall in his state.
"Most people who are not from Texas, most people who live in states north of Texas, a lot of the information they get about Texas is what they see on TV," Abbott said during the podcast. "And most of what they see on TV are the thousands upon thousands of families coming across the border, as well as unaccompanied minors.
"The fact of the matter is most of the people coming across the border … mathematically last month there were 180,000 people who were apprehended coming across the border, 120,00 of them were adults traveling alone. Many of whom are not here for good causes."
Abbott said he would solicit public donations to fund construction of his proposed border wall.
"I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States or everybody in the entire world who wants to help Texas build a border wall. There will be a place on there where they can contribute to Texas, building the border wall," Abbott said.
Harris last week traveled to Guatemala and Mexico in her first trip abroad as vice president. She said her goal has been to discover the root-causes of the border crisis.
"They have a game of pretend going on, they are pretending that the Texas border does not exist because they're not talking about it either publicly or privately or calling us or anything else like that," Abbott said. "They just have this attitude that the Texas border with Mexico does not exist."
During her trip last week, Harris was criticized after laughing off questions asking when she would visit the U.S.-Mexico border. She also was the target of outrage from progressives and some immigration advocates after she told Guatemalans “do not come, do not come” to the U.S.
Abbott was scheduled to appear on Tuesday night's "Greg Kelly Reports" on Newsmax TV.
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