Texas governor 'should be arrested for treason' over border 'rebellion': columnist

The U.S./Mexico border crisis has been a source of major tension between the Biden Administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. President Joe Biden, on Friday, January 26, declared that he will "shut down" the United States' southern border if necessary.

In an article published by The Nation on January 30, progressive legal expert Elie Mystal is vehemently critical of Abbott's handling of the border crisis in Texas — even comparing his actions to a "Civil War reenactment."

"The flash point for this crisis is, of course, the border,' Mystal explains. "I have written before about Eagle Pass, Tex., as a place along the Rio Grande where it is popular for immigrants to make the crossing. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has erected a series of sadistic obstructions across this part of the river — including buoys ringed with razor wire and underwater traps — meant to maim and even drown people trying to swim across the river. Should people, and their children, survive Abbott's gauntlet, Texas officials on the other side have been accused of pushing them back into the river, or denying the survivors medical aid or even water."

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Mystal warns that tensions between Abbott and the Biden Administration go way beyond a "constitutional crisis."

"People will say Texas is merely 'causing a constitutional crisis' as opposed to spoiling for civil war," Mystal argues. "But that is the wrong frame. There is no 'constitutional' crisis here, because there is nothing up for reasonable interpretation."

The legal expert continues, "Texas is violating the Constitution, as well as a court order, and it's doing so in order to continue to hurt desperate people.… This is not a legal crisis: This is a rebellion against federal authority and the basic human decency that it's trying to provide…. If Gov. Abbott tries to further obstruct the operations of the federal government and continues to violate the Supreme Court's order, he should be arrested for treason."

READ MORE: Trump calls on 'all willing states' to blatantly defy SCOTUS border ruling in Texas

Elie Mystal's full article for The Nation is available at this link.