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Inauguration bromance: Trump praises Abbott as he promises deportations, more miles of border wall

President Donald Trump gives inauguration speech

President Donald Trump pledged to fulfill campaign promises about immigration and the southern border during inauguration ceremonies in the US Capitol on Monday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

By Matt Hennie

January 20, 2025

President Donald Trump called Gov. Greg Abbott ‘phenomenal’ at the inauguration, adding that he now has a border wall partner. A beaming Abbott responded with a thumbs up.

President Donald Trump celebrated his border bromance with Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, crediting the Texas governor — and their use of the southern border as a political battering ram against opponents — with returning him to the White House. 

The 1,254-mile border that Texas shares with Mexico figured prominently in Trump’s inaugural address as the president pledged to declare a national emergency at the border, deploy troops, deport “millions and millions” of undocumented immigrants in the US that have committed crimes, and designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

But it was in remarks to supporters later at Emancipation Hall, where Abbott and hundreds of others watched the inauguration, that Trump praised the governor for his efforts at the border and said the federal government would build more miles of border wall — “that wall will go up so fast,” Trump quipped.

“He’s doing a phenomenal job. But now you’re going to have a partner that’s going to work with you,” Trump said after initially not realizing Abbott was in the audience.

Trump also laid bare the raw politics of the border wall and immigration that he and Abbott successfully exploited during the campaign. Because of that, Trump bragged, his campaign notched electoral victories in border counties not seen by a Republican presidential candidate and Abbott boosted his approval ratings — though a recent poll indicated otherwise.

Since March 2021, Abbott has spent $11 billion on Operation Lone Star hoping to stem the flow of drugs and migrants along the border. His efforts at the border have seen mixed success. The operation has apprehended more than 530,000 migrants, scored more than 50,000 arrests and seized over 622 million doses of fentanyl, according to Abbott’s office. But experts question whether the initiative actually decreases migrant encounters at the border. 

“He was a very popular governor but now he’s like an unbeatable governor because of your border policy,” Trump said. “You didn’t do that for politics. You did it because you wanted to do the right thing. It sure as hell worked for politics, too.”

From his seat, Abbott apparently responded that his border efforts were “self-preservation.”

“It’s self-preservation, that’s right,” Trump said. “The people are demanding it. The people of Texas are demanding it, the people are demanding it all over.”

Trump even suggested that had he not survived the assassination attempt in July, Abbott might be the person taking office instead of him.

“Am I right, governor? Had I not looked over there, I’m not speaking right now. You might be speaking here, you want to know the truth,” Trump said. 

Gov. Greg Abbott at Trump's inauguration

Gov. Greg Abbott watched President Donald Trump’s inauguration from Emancipation Hall in the US Capitol on Monday before the president applauded the Texas governor for his efforts at the southern border. (Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

Trump: ‘I will send troops to the southern border’

During his inaugural address, Trump referred to the border early in the speech. 

“(The government) fails to protect our magnificent law-abiding American citizens, but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and ​​mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world,” Trump said.

“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders but refuses to defend American borders, or, more importantly, its own people,” he added.

Trump said among the first executive orders of his administration will be declaring a national emergency at the border and then moving on to mass deportations. 

“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Trump said. “All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”

Trump also said he will bring back enforcement of a policy that requires some people seeking asylum to wait in Mexico for their court hearings in the US. His administration created the policy in 2019 as the Migrant Protection Protocol, with critics blaming it for leaving migrants to live in inhumane conditions.

“We will reinstate my Remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. And I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he added.

Trump also said he would deport people under a centuries-old law, something he promised to do during his campaign, as a way to target foreign gangs that he and others, including Abbott, said are making their way into US cities. The law allows the president to detain and deport non-citizens from a country considered an enemy of the US during wartime.

“And by invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil, including our cities and inner cities,” Trump said. 

In September, Abbott designated a Venezuelan gang as a terrorist organization.

During his remarks at Emancipation Hall, Trump also said he would add to the 500 miles of border wall built during his first administration. Much of that total, though, was rebuilding and repairing existing border fortifications. And while Texas was the first state to build its own border wall, the effort is fragmented, built in remote areas, and facing resistance from landowners, according to the Texas Tribune.

Across Texas, the response from elected officials to the start of Trump’s second term was mixed.

CATEGORIES: TRUMP

Author

  • Matt Hennie

    Matt is the chief political correspondent for Courier Texas. He’s worked as a reporter and editor for nearly 30 years in Texas, Georgia, Arizona, South Carolina and Kansas, focusing on telling the stories of local communities so they become more engaged and better informed.

Politics

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