Texas County Ratifies Invasion Declaration

Illegal immigrants are apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and National Guard troops in Eagle Pass, Texas, near the border with Mexico on June 30, 2022. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Days after declaring the illegal immigration crisis at the southern border an “invasion,” Goliad County, Texas, ratified its declaration this week.

The ratification by the county’s commissioners is part of an effort to get Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to make a state invasion declaration. Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) has backed the county’s move. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cloud criticized the Biden administration for being “derelict in their duty” to safeguard the country.

“The Biden administration continues to shrug off Americans’ calls for increased border security while criminal cartels exploit and attack our nation. ... Texas has a right to defend itself, and Goliad has my full support in declaring an invasion,” he said.

Declaring an invasion will allow the state government to use greater powers to remove illegal immigrants from Texas. On July 7, Abbott issued an executive order directing law enforcement officers in the state to apprehend illegal immigrants and send them to a port of entry at the border.

According to Abbott, the Biden administration has abandoned the covenant in Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, in which the United States is obligated to protect each state against invasion. However, the Abbott executive order made no explicit invasion declaration, something that several counties, including Goliad, have been asking for.

On July 5, Kinney, Goliad, Edwards, Jeff Davis, and Terrell counties declared an invasion. That was followed by a similar declaration by Presidio County on July 7.

Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith said he expects up to 25 counties in the state to declare an invasion by the end of the month.

Illegal Immigration Spiking

In late March, state Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican, asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton whether the state has the sovereign power to defend itself from invasion.

Paxton replied that the issue involves a potential claim being considered by states and state attorneys general across the country to stop illegal immigration.

“While we consider that and similar new claims against the federal government, it would be improper, and could compromise Texas’s litigation strategy, to comment on and telegraph the state’s position and arguments on this issue through an advisory attorney general opinion,” Paxton stated without elaborating on the litigation strategy.

The invasion declarations come as a record number of illegal immigrants have been apprehended in recent months. In May, agents from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego apprehended a total of 232,628 illegal border crossers, the highest monthly total in 23 years.

Republicans have blamed the Biden administration’s policies of rolling back Trump-era rules, as well as lax interior enforcement policies, for the crisis.