WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Securing America's southern border has long been a source of political tension, especially between the Texas Legislature and federal government.
State efforts to secure the Texas-Mexico border have escalated from sending former President Barack Obama a $2.8 billion invoice in 2017 to Texas building its own border wall.
After years of back and forth, it seemed recently that Congress was ready to take action. The U.S. Senate seemingly reaching a bipartisan deal – until it all fell apart.
"The president worked for two months. He directed his team to work with senate, senators, both Republicans and Democrats, to come up with a border deal," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "It would have been the toughest, the fairest border deal if it had gone into law. And Republicans rejected it because of Donald Trump. Donald Trump said, 'If you move forward with this border deal, this bipartisan border deal coming out of the Senate,' it would hurt him. It will help Joe Biden, and it would hurt him. So they rejected the deal. It should not be about politics."
While House Speaker Mike Johnson did say he was in communication with the former president about the border and that the bill was dead on arrival in the house, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the bill didn't get the job done.
In a speech on the Senate floor last month, Cornyn said the bill wouldn't reduce the influx of people crossing the border.
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"This bill also does not end what has come to be known euphemistically as 'catch and release,' and it actually creates a new system under which migrants who might express an intent to apply for asylum must be released from custody even before an initial screening interview is completed," Cornyn said.
Still, White House officials say the president isn't giving up on getting a bill to his desk.
"The president believes he was elected to serve the American people, to deliver for the American people," Ben LaBolt, the White House Director of Communications, said. "The vast majority of Texans, the vast majority of Americans, support action to secure our border and to make sure that we have a fair, more humane ... process that allows us to control the migration flow more. And so, he's going to say, 'Let's put your personal political interests aside here and get something done for the state of Texas.'"