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Ky. AG and other Republicans support Texas Gov.’s ‘right of self-defense’ on border

Russell Coleman stands behind a podium
Erica Peterson
/
LPM
Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman was elected last November, and has previously served as an FBI special agent and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Kentucky Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman and other elected officials are expressing their support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “right of self defense” at the southern border.

At least two Republican elected officials in Kentucky are throwing their support behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a dispute with President Joe Biden at the nation’s southern border.

Abbott wrote a letter to the Biden administration this week asserting the state’s Constitutional “right of self defense” following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed Border Patrol agents to resume cutting razor wire along a stretch of the Texas border with Mexico.

At least 25 governors have signed on to the letter that claims immigrants coming into the U.S. illegally amount to an invasion, and that Texas has a right to secure its border. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was not among them.

Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman posted to the social media website X, formerly known as Twitter, that Kentucky stands with Texas.

“President Biden’s failed open border has let poison that’s killing our kids pour into Kentucky and made us a border state,” according to the post.

Coleman was elected as attorney general last November, and has previously served as an FBI special agent and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Over at the Kentucky Legislature, Republican Rep. Savannah Maddox of Dry Ridge wrote on X that she’s drafted a resolution calling on Beshear to support Abbott, and Biden to bring home National Guard members overseas to protect the southern border.

“That the Kentucky General Assembly calls upon President Joe Biden to fulfill his Article 4 Duty to repel the invasion America faces at its southern Border,” she wrote in a post on X.

Maddox wrote she would file the resolution “the minute it hits my desk,” on Friday morning.

Ryan Van Velzer is the Kentucky Public Radio Managing Editor. Email Ryan at rvanvelzer@lpm.org.