PHOENIX – Arizona’s Doug Ducey joined nine other Republican governors Wednesday in southern Texas to outline a 10-point border security plan they want the Biden administration to implement.
“We’re not going to sit around while Joe Biden refuses to act,” Ducey said during a press conference in Mission, Texas, led by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The White House press secretary last week told the Republican governors to be a part of the solution. We’ve tried to meet with the president and be a part of the solution, but he refuses. Even worse, he ignores.”
Wednesday’s border trip came 16 days after 25 GOP governors sent Biden a letter requesting a meeting to work on finding solutions to the border situation.
Georgia’s Brian Kemp, Idaho’s Brad Little, Iowa’s Kim Reynolds, Montana’s Greg Gianforte, Nebraska’s Pete Ricketts, Ohio’s Mike DeWine, Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt and Wyoming’s Mark Gordon joined Abbott and Ducey in Texas on Wednesday.
Before the press conference at a park on the Rio Grande, a river that separates a stretch of Texas and Mexico, the governors received a briefing from Texas Department of Public Safety Commissioner Steve McCraw and National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd.
Their 10-point plan includes calls for more federal resources, diplomacy with Central American countries, and border wall construction.
“If the president won’t meet with us, then we’ll share our policy ideas today,” Ducey said. “Hopefully, he’ll hear the solutions and act.”
Here are titles of the proposed steps, per a press release from Ducey’s office:
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Continue Title 42 public health restrictions
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Dedicate federal resources to eradicate human trafficking and drug trafficking
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Resume the deportation of all criminals
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Re-enter all agreements with our Northern Triangle partners and Mexico
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Provide notice and transparency to states on unaccompanied minors and migrants
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Send a clear message to potential migrants
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Deploy more federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops
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End “catch and release” and clear the judicial backlog
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Fully reinstate the migrant protection protocols
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Finish securing the border
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