Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) encouraged the state of Texas to continue its standoff with the federal government during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Noem clashed with host Dana Bash while declaring her support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his decision to defy a Supreme Court ruling allowing U.S. Border Patrol to remove razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande.
“Texas should stand their ground,” Noem told Bash. “They should enforce their state law and go back to the constitutional rights that they’ve been granted to protect their state sovereignty.”
Texas authorities have been blocking U.S. Border Patrol from land near the town of Eagle Pass, where three migrants drowned while trying to cross a concertina-wire covered section of the Rio Grande earlier this month.
On Wednesday, Abbott denounced the Supreme Court’s ruling and announced he would continue to order the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to refuse federal agents access to the border.
In a statement, Abbot said his state has a constitutional right to defend itself from an “invasion” spurred on by President Joe Biden’s “lawless border policies.”
On Friday, Texas officials appeared to ignore the Department of Homeland Security’s deadline to restore federal access to the disputed area, prompting concerns that Biden might send U.S. military to the southern border.
Asked if she was worried that Texas’ dispute with the federal government “could turn violent,” Noem told Bash, “We don’t know where this will escalate. We don’t know what the president will do.”
“We don’t know how he’ll try to manipulate our soldiers or if he will even defend our country from this invasion that is happening,” she went on, later saying she was “all in” on Abbott’s plan to “protect state sovereignty.”
Noem’s comments come after former President Donald Trump urged Republicans in congress to tank a bipartisan Senate immigration deal, calling the bill a “gift to the Radical Left Democrats.”