Trump Tells Texas Governor-Elect: If the Border Policy Is Not Continued, the Federal Government Will Continue It
President Donald Trump took questions from reporters in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on November 5, after signing a proclamation. Asked whether he was ready to reinforce the southern border now that Texas's newly elected Democratic governor was removing state manpower from border defense, Trump said he was sure Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa would want security on the Texas border and that the new state government would continue his border policy, adding: "If they don't continue my policy, I will." The White House's official account later posted the exchange under that quote as its title.
Trump also said people on television two days earlier had described today's border as like living in heaven compared with the hell of the Biden years. Hinojosa defeated Republican Governor Greg Abbott in the November 3 midterm elections, ending more than three decades of Republican control of the Texas governorship; she is scheduled to take office in January 2027. For the record, Hinojosa is still governor-elect and has not removed anyone from the border; Abbott's term runs until January, and until then Texas's border operation remains under his command.
Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, deploying the state National Guard and Department of Public Safety personnel to the border. Hinojosa campaigned against Abbott's hard-line enforcement approach and opposed the law making illegal entry a state crime, while saying she supports a secure border and more selective enforcement. According to Houston's KPRC 2, she has not committed to eliminating border funding or withdrawing state personnel, and has not announced a final plan for the National Guard and state police assets assigned to the border.
The White House says southwest border apprehensions in fiscal year 2026 fell 95 percent from the annual average under President Biden, that the federal government has allocated $7.5 billion to reimburse Texas for border-security costs, and that $46.5 billion has been allocated to finish the border wall. With this statement, Trump put his position on record before the new governor makes her decision: Texas can keep helping secure the border, or the federal government will carry the policy forward on its own.
(Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：特朗普在白宫椭圆形办公室答记者问（白宫官方资料照片）。白宫官方照片，Joyce N. Boghosian 摄，公有领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: President Trump answering reporters in the Oval Office (official White House file photo). Official White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
