Texas Gov. Greg Abbott denies he's advocating shooting migrants crossing Texas-Mexico border

Taking heat for saying Texas isn't shooting migrants who are illegally entering the state from Mexico because "the Biden administration would charge us with murder," Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he wasn't actually advocating gunplay in his efforts to stop unauthorized border crossings.

"I was asked a question to legally distinguish between what Texas has the legal authority to do and what would be illegal to do," Abbott told reporters a day after his remarks to a conservative talk show host about Texas' border control initiatives Thursday were posted on social media. "And I explained in detail all the different things that Texas is doing that we have the legal authority to do, and pointed out what would be illegal to do."

In the 38-second audio clip, posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Heartland Signal, Abbott tells host Dana Loesch that Texas is "using every tool" from building border barriers to enacting a state law making it a crime to enter Texas without legal authorization.

"The only thing that we're not doing is we're not shooting people who come across the border, because, of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder," Abbott told Loesch.

At a news conference Friday in Austin, the three-term Republican said he was not being flippant and no one should construe his remarks to mean that undocumented immigrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande should be shot.

But some Democrats noted that remarks carrying violent connotations can be seized on by violence-prone people with tragic consequences. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa called the remark a "bloodthirsty approach to governance."

He likened Abbott's comment to one then-President Donald Trump said in the months leading up to the Aug. 3, 2019, deadly mass shooting in El Paso targeting Hispanics that the nation "has been invaded by hundreds of thousands of people coming through Mexico."

The shooter in El Paso used similar language in a screed published online before he opened fire at a crowded shopping center. U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar, a Democrat who represents El Paso, reacted to Abbott's comments with dismay.

"I can't believe I have to say 'murdering people is unacceptable,'" Escobar said on social media.

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The migrant shooting comment notwithstanding, Abbott has sustained national attention for his hard-line policies aimed at securing the Texas-Mexico border, which he has said has become intolerably porous during President Joe Biden's three years in office.

At Friday's news conference, the governor defended his action to seize control of Eagle Pass' riverside Shelby Park, and to deny the U.S. Border Patrol access to the site on the border.

"Texas has the legal authority to control ingress and egress into any geographic location in the state of Texas," Abbott said. "And that authority is being asserted with regard to the park in Eagle Pass, Texas, to maintain operational control."

The U.S. Homeland Security Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to force the state of Texas to allow federal border officials to operate in the park and on the adjoining section of the Rio Grande, saying the Texas National Guard was blocking U.S. Border Patrol operations.

"Border Patrol agents in a vehicle towing a boat to launch on the boat ramp requested access to Shelby Park, but the Texas National Guard refused to permit them to access the area," the federal agency said in the court filing. "Border Patrol agents likewise requested access to the staging area and Texas National Guard refused.

"The boat ramp that Texas has blocked off is the only safe and operationally practical boat ramp with access to the relevant portion of the river."