This statement has a feel similar to the Declaration of Independence ennumerating the “long train of abuses and usurpations” endured by the American people.
GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT
January 24, 2024
The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.
Despite having been put on notice in a series of letters–one of which I delivered to him by hand–President Biden has ignored Texas’s demand that he perform his constitutional duties.
* President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress. Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.
* President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The effect is to illegally allow their en masse parole into the United States.
* By wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas’s border security infrastructure, President Biden has enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along this State’s southern border– bridges where nobody drowns–and into the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande.
Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United States.
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border. That is why the Framers included both Article IV, sec. 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and Article I, sec 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.” Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 419 (2012) (Scalia, J., dissenting).
The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, sec. 4 has triggered Article I, sec. 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, sec. 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.
Greg Abbott
Governor of Texas
This is a showdown, the SCOTUS decision the other day notwithstanding.
Oh, but they are doing something.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday said he will add more razor wire at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent more illegal immigrants from entering the United States, coming after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration and allowed federal agents to cut the wire.
“We are adding more razor wire as we speak right now to make sure that we are doing even more to secure the border,” the Texas Republican said in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg TV.
The governor said his state has the authority to defy the U.S. government under the U.S. Constitution because its authors—the Founding Fathers—believed that “there would be times when the federal government does not do its job and states have a right of self-defense.”
In fact, Abbott taking charge and leading the way has inspired 25 other states to support his effort. With Texas, that makes it a MAJORITY of states opposing Brandon’s open border. How’s that for “muh’ democracy”?
It’s a confrontation between two power centers — the state v. the federal government. This is how our first civil war started. A second may be churning under the surface as the two sides square off.
Have a good weekend.
Good article Dave. I am thankful for Governor Abbott and the 25 State Governors for taking a stand against this invasion. It is a clear dereliction of duty by the Biden administration. They are importing voters for Democrat power at the expense of our safety. It is good vs evil. We all need to be praying and take action by voting Republican and removing this administration.