THE “WELCOME TO TEXAS” sign at the state line (Shutterstock).

By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune

A divided Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday night approved a controversial “Statement of Support for Texas” backing Texas Gov. Greg Abbot’s defiance of the federal government.

The vote was four to three, with Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, Mayor Pro Tem Pat Burns and Councilmembers Casey McKeon and Tony Strickland in favor.
Opposed were Councilmembers Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick and Natalie Moser. The motion also included that a copy of the statement be sent to Abbott.

Burns, who proposed the statement, said, “We’re not just talking about Texas,” and that the border crisis was a national concern. He said that illegal immigrants were receiving benefits at taxpayer expense of $100 billion.

“Tell Texas to stand strong,” he concluded, “and we’ll stand with you.”

Bolton criticized the statement for not dealing with local concerns and read from an article in Wired magazine about some of the people supporting Abbott’s actions to defy the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the federal Border Patrol’s authority to remove some barriers placed in the Rio Grande river by the Texas National Guard.

One of those quoted in the article said, “To hell with the United States.”
“I don’t see how we can ally the City of Huntington Beach with people like that,” she said.
Strickland insisted it was an issue of concern to all 50 states, while Moser dismissed the statement as “political performative art” and a “divisive distraction.”