Abbott blasts Biden on baby formula
Texas leader joins others in GOP to criticize giving product to migrants amid shortages
Gov. Greg Abbott is joining a chorus of national Republicans in blasting President Joe Biden for providing baby formula to families of migrants crossing the border as the nation grapples with a baby formula shortage.
“While mothers and fathers stare at empty grocery store shelves in a panic, the Biden administration is happy to provide baby formula to illegal immigrants coming across our southern border,” Abbott said in a statement to the media.
Abbott is far from the first Republican to make this case. Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack on Wednesday posted photos on Facebook allegedly from a migrant processing center in Mcallen stocked with pallets of baby formula products. She also posted photos of empty grocery store shelves.
“This is what America last looks like,” she said.
It quickly became a major story on conservative media outlets, with Cammack appearing on Fox News Channel with host Sean Hannity to criticize the Biden administration for providing formula to babies of potential “illegal immigrants.”
Abbott was quick to join the fray, putting out a joint statement Thursday with National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, a regular on the campaign trail with Abbott.
“Our children deserve a president who puts their needs and survival first — not one who gives critical supplies to illegal immigrants before the very people he took an oath to serve,” Abbott’s statement said.
The Biden administration said after consulting with major baby formula retailers and manufacturers, it is taking steps to cut red tape to get formula back on store shelves.
“We recognize that this is certainly a challenge for people
across the country, something the president is very focused on, and we’re going to do everything we can to cut red tape and take steps to increase supply,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
The shortage stems from supply chain problems from the pandemic and a major recall in February of some formula under the Similac, Alimentum and Elecare labels. That recall came after infants in three states fell ill with bacterial infections.
For Abbott, immigrant children getting formula is another front in his criticism of how the Biden administration has handled the Texas border, which has had a record surge of crossings, prompting Abbott to assign 10,000 National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety officers to back up federal border patrol forces.
In April, Abbott began shipping busloads of immigrants processed by border patrol officials to Washington, D.C., and at one point shut down incoming commercial trade with Mexico to force Mexican authorities to promise to do more to patrol their side of the border.