HOUSTON, US

A convoy of hundreds of Americans who want the US to secure its southern border started their journey across the country on Monday to highlight the problem of illegal immigration.

The "Take Our Border Back" caravan left the state of Virginia to tell America that they believe the US-Mexico border crisis is out of control. The group is headed to some of America's hot spots for illegal entry into the US, including Eagle Pass, Texas, Yuma, Arizona and San Ysidro, California.

The convoy is taking place as Texas is in a heated battle with the Biden administration over the state’s right to defend its border from mass illegal immigration.

"And what Texas is asserting is our...right of self-defense because the president of the United States is not fulfilling his duty to enforce the laws passed by Congress that deny illegal entry into the United States," said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in an interview with Fox News.

Abbott said Texas has the right to defend itself under the US Constitution if the federal government does not do its part to protect the state from border threats.

"Because the Biden administration has really truly abdicated its responsibility to secure the border and enforce the laws, Texas very simply is securing the border," said Abbott. "So we've put up the razor wire...and we've put up all these barricades that actually have denied illegal entry."

"Joe Biden actually does have an option here. Joe Biden's option is to enforce the laws of the United States and stop this illegal entry," continued Abbott.

Anadolu documented some illegal immigrants surrendering to the Texas Border Patrol in the Shelby Park area along the Rio Grande River, where patrols have been beefed up as the wave of illegal border crossings continue.

Texas has also implemented security measures such as installing barbed wire, placing floating river barriers in the Rio Grande and continuing its construction of a border wall, but the Supreme Court has so far ruled in the US government's favor to allow federal authorities to take down razor wire and other immigration barriers.

"It's unfortunate that there is a governor in Texas, Governor Abbott, who has politicized this issue of what's happening on the border, and it's not making people's lives safer, it's actually making it harder for law enforcement...at the border to do their job," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in an interview with CNN.

Abbott said he is going to continue his fight to secure the Texas border from illegal immigrants, many of whom the governor said are dangerous criminals.

"Texas has a right as a state to stop criminals from coming into our state, to make arrests of those criminals," he said.

In addition to deploying the Texas National Guard and Department of Public safety officers to make arrests and deny illegal entry at hot spots like Eagle Pass, Abbott has received pledges from 25 Republican governors to help with the border crisis. The state of Oklahoma is already in the process of sending its National Guard to Texas.​​​​​​​

"Because the truth of the matter is, what Texas is doing is what Americans expect to be done," said Abbott. "Americans expect the border to be secured because Joe Biden has abandoned that responsibility. Texas is stepping up and doing it."