Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is poised to offer aid to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to control illegal crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border, as fellow Republican Abbott pursues a showdown with the Biden administration over immigration enforcement.
Kemp scheduled an announcement for Tuesday afternoon as both chambers of Georgia’s Republican-led Legislature push through identically worded resolutions condemning President Joe Biden’s border policy and saying they back any effort by Kemp to “allocate resources and assistance to the protection of the southern border.”
The Georgia Senate voted 31-15 for its resolution Monday, and a House committee approved its version Friday.
BORDER COMMUNITIES STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE MIGRANT CRISIS
The sharply partisan resolutions were accompanied by Republican talking points that characterized anyone who crosses the border illegally as a criminal, even those seeking asylum from persecution at home and concluding that many are drug traffickers or potential terrorists. The measures are progressing in an election year not only for the president, but for all of Georgia’s 236 legislative seats as well.
Kemp could choose to send more Georgia National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Kemp deployed troops there in 2019. Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp, said 29 guard members remain deployed performing missions that include aerial surveillance.
Kemp was one of 13 Republican governors who joined Abbott at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 4. Abbott has been locked in a standoff with the Biden administration after the state began denying access to U.S. Border Patrol agents at a park on the edge of the Rio Grande in the Texas border town.
Kemp, who has a history of conflict with former President Donald Trump, continues to keep his distance from the Republican frontrunner while backing other Republicans and opposing Biden. But several other Georgia Republicans made clear in debate Monday that what they wanted was a return to…
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