MOSCOW, January 26 Conflict between Texas and US federal authorities in connection with measures to protect American borders is an internal matter of the United States, but attention to the issue is appropriate against the backdrop of Washington’s position on the issue of human rights, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
“This is an internal issue in the United States, I think that they are obliged to solve it using internal means or methods,” Zakharova noted at a briefing, commenting on the conflict between the Texas authorities and the federal ones.
At the same time, the diplomat recalled that it was the United States that made the topic of human rights “cross-border and so international.”
“From Washington’s point of view, it (the topic of human rights — ed.) can freely bypass the sovereignty and independence of states. I think close attention to this issue is more than appropriate,” concluded the official representative of the diplomatic department.
Texas authorities are in conflict with federal authorities over border security measures. Thus, the US administration complained to the country's supreme court against the state leadership after the National Guard blocked access to the border for federal patrols. And the barbed wire fence allegedly prevented the implementation of a country-wide border security policy. Texas authorities insist the border is not being properly secured, leading to record numbers of illegal immigrants entering the US. The state is taking its own measures to combat them, one of which was a law that allows the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of those suspected of illegal border crossings, as well as the expulsion of illegal immigrants by court order. Federal authorities were waiting for assurances from the state leadership that Texas would refrain from applying this rule, but when they did not receive them, they went to court. The US administration calls the state's actions unconstitutional and the measures excessive, since, in particular, the law criminalizes what is already prohibited at the federal level. Texas authorities insist that federal legislation in this area does not work.
Earlier, a court in Texas ordered state Governor Greg Abbott to remove a barrier against migrants from the Rio Grande border river.
Republican governors of 25 American states on January 26 accused the country's President Joe Biden of unwillingness to fight illegal migration; they issued a corresponding statement and supported Abbott.