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Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott mocked Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, calling him a “joke” for opposing his deployment of Texas National Guard troops to provide security over immigration enforcement operations in Chicago.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Abbott said, “Gov. Pritzker is a joke” and is in “violation of his oath of office” by attempting to interfere with federal law enforcement efforts to improve safety in Chicago and other Illinois communities.
Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday, tasked with protecting federal personnel and property amid anti-immigration protests, the Pentagon confirmed. A Pentagon official said 200 guardsmen were mobilized for an initial 60-day period.
Pritzker, a rumored 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and fierce critic of President Donald Trump, has condemned the National Guard deployment, calling it “Trump’s invasion,” and calling on Abbott to withdraw his support. He has also threatened to pull out from the National Governors’ Association if the bipartisan group does not condemn the deployment.
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The state of Illinois, joined by the city of Chicago, also filed a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to stop the deployment.
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Abbott said that Pritzker’s actions are in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“You may recall it wasn’t too long ago that he put his left hand on a bible and raised his right hand and swore to God that he would support the Constitution of the United States. As opposed to supporting it and allowing federal officials to enforce federal law, he’s violating the Constitution, violating the oath that he took by interfering with the ability of federal officials to conduct the executive branch of the federal government,” said Abbott.
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He said that it is “only natural” Trump would call on his “elite National Guard to provide assistance anywhere in the entire country,” because of Texas soldiers’ extensive experience providing security at the southern border.
“Texas has the most proven, the largest, the best-trained National Guard in the United States of America,” he said. “Americans will remember we had thousands of our National Guard securing the American border, the largest border state in the entire country, more than 1,200 miles, and it was Texas, as opposed to the federal government under the Biden administration, that had to step up and secure the border.”
“Now, because we have a president who is finally enforcing the laws of the United States … it’s only natural by extension that if there’s a need for that elite National Guard to provide assistance anywhere in the entire country, that it would be the National Guard called upon,” he added.
Though Pritzker has denounced the deployment as an “invasion,” Abbott clarified that his soldiers’ presence in the state is strictly to provide backup for federal officials who have recently faced intense opposition from agitators in Illinois.
“They provide a very important backup role to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Right now, they are playing a very important backup roll to ensure the safety of federal officials while federal officials enforce federal law in places like Illinois, Oregon, and elsewhere,” he explained. “There’s unrest in areas where ICE is trying to operate and where ICE is trying to enforce the law. And what ICE or other federal officials need, they need safety and security as they go about the process of carrying out their function.”
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He went on to say, “It is very important that the public understand that these federal officials, they have a requirement to enforce federal law. Anybody who interferes with that is interfering with the ability for federal officials to do their job.”
“What the National Guard is trained and skilled at doing is dealing with civil unrest like that,” said Abbott. “Whenever the country is in times of need, Texans will step up and help out any way we possibly can.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.
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