Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp sets the stage to aid Texas governor’s border standoff with Biden

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. ADVERTISEMENT 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 president, but for all of Georgia’s 236 legislative seats as well. READ MORE FILE - The sun sets over water lilies and cypress trees along the remote Red Trail wilderness water trail of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in Fargo, Ga. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, released drafts of three permits that would allow Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals to mine outside the swamp. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File) Proposed mine outside Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp nears approval despite environment damage concerns Georgia state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, left, speaks, Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, during the first meeting of a state Senate committee to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Cowsert says an inquiry into whether Willis committed misconduct won't be a partisan "witch hunt," but minority Democrats say they doubt the inquiry's good faith. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy) Georgia Republicans say Fani Willis inquiry isn’t a ‘witch hunt,’ but Democrats doubt good faith Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, speaks in favor of Senate Bill 362 at The Georgia State Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. The bill would prevent economic incentives of business that voluntarily recommended unions or share contact information of workers with unions. (Natrice Miller/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) In possible test of federal labor law, Georgia could make it harder for some workers to join unions 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 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 Trump’s specific border policies. “We’re condemning President Biden that he took back and did a reversal in regard to what President Trump passed into law by executive order,” said Sen. Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Daholonega Republican. “What we’ve said is we want that executive order reinstated.” ADVERTISEMENT Democrats attacked Trump and Republicans during debate for rejecting a border security plan developed in the U.S. Senate by negotiators including Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. “This list of opportunities to secure the border thrown in the trash can by congressional Republicans is long,” said state Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat. “But none of this list compares to the most recent debacle we have witnessed.” Republicans also made clear that the resolution was an election-year messaging exercise. Georgia senators, in particular, have debated a clutch of partisan measures in recent weeks aimed at pleasing Republicans and riling Democrats. “We’re not going to pass a bill today that is going to move the needle in a large way,” Gooch said. “What we are going to do today is take a position on this issue.” Georgia is at least the third Republican-led state where lawmakers in recent weeks have introduced resolutions backing calls to send more National Guard troops to support Abbott, after Oklahoma and Tennessee. ADVERTISEMENT Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last month he would send hundreds of additional guard members. The state has sent more than 1,000 guard members, state troopers and other officers to the Texas border since last May, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Georgia Republicans echoed their party’s national claims that Biden needs no help from Congress to control the border and that Democrats had unified control of Congress for Biden’s first two years. Democrats, meanwhile, said they support some increased controls at the border, showing how the issue has shifted, but said Georgia lawmakers have little control over the issue. “This resolution is politics for politics’ sake,” said Senate Democratic Whip Harold Jones II, of Augusta. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.