Beto O’Rourke demands Biden confront Abbott on border security in blistering essay: ‘Stop this madness’

Beto O’Rourke called on President Biden to confront Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday in an op-ed for The New York Times and demanded he “stop this madness” at the southern border. 

O’Rourke, who lost to Abbott in the Texas gubernatorial race in November, said it was time for Biden to “step up.” 

“It’s on Mr. Biden to stop this madness. In fact, promoting a humane immigration and asylum system is exactly what Mr. Biden promised to do when he ran for office,” he wrote, condemning Abbott’s border security measures. 

The Department of Justice announced that it had plans to sue Abbott over the use of a floating buoy barrier along the Rio Grande to stop illegal immigration into the state. 

Beto O’Rourke, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Texas, called on President Biden to confront Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over border security measures. (Nitashia Johnson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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O’Rourke praised the DOJ’s lawsuit against Abbott as a “good first step.” 

“Every day that Mr. Biden fails to stop Mr. Abbott leads to unnecessary, preventable suffering — and often death,” the former Texas congressman wrote.

Abbott took a swipe at the president after the DOJ announced its lawsuit against the Texas governor.

“Texas Has Seized More Than 422 Million Lethal Doses of Fentanyl Since 2021. More than enough to kill all Americans,” the Texas governor wrote Sunday on Twitter. “We have also made 394,200 illegal-immigrant apprehensions and 31,300 criminal arrests. All because Biden is not doing his job.”

The Biden Justice Department has sued Texas over border security measures. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Image)

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O’Rourke praised some of Biden’s border policies but also took issue with the administration’s “asylum restrictions” and their “prevention through deterrence framework.”

“Mr. Biden must change course, and that begins by stopping Mr. Abbott. The president should order the immediate removal of the lethal razor wire and obstructions in the Rio Grande and ensure that Border Patrol are unimpeded by Texas Department of Public Safety officers — today,” he wrote. 

He said it was a chance for Biden to show Americans that a “humane approach” was the “best way to establish order and safety.”

Migrants walk by a string of buoys placed on the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 16, 2023. The buoys are part of an operation Texas is pursuing to secure its borders, but critics say Gov. Greg Abbott is exceeding his authority. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

“I know that the politics on this aren’t easy. And I can see why it might be tempting to allow the governor to assume ownership over the Texas border rather than pursue a public confrontation on an issue that is this politically charged,” O’Rourke continued.

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“Be on the right side of history, demonstrate the kind of strong, decisive leadership that Americans are desperate for, and the politics will follow,” O’Rourke wrote. “Now is his chance to deliver.”

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.