Texas Gov. Greg Abbott published a defiant statement on X accusing the Biden administration of dereliction of its constitutional duty to defend Texas from invasion.
“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,” Mr. Abbott wrote.
“Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just three 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.”
The Framers of 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 they “included both Article IV, [Section] 4, which promises that the federal government ‘shall protect each [State] against invasion,’ and Article I, [Section] 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges ‘the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders,’” he wrote, citing the dissent of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in Arizona v. United States (2012).
In that case, the court struck down three out of four provisions in the Arizona law known as SB1070, which gave authority to local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. The court held that the offending provisions violated the constitutionally enumerated powers of Congress and were preempted by federal statute.
“The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, [Section] 4 has triggered Article I, [Section] 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, [Section] 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,” the governor wrote.
“This is the right position,” Mr. Roy wrote on X. “You have my full support to do what is necessary to protect Texas.”
The governor’s statement came as Texas continues to resist a U.S. Supreme Court order allowing the removal of razor wire fencing on a 2.5-mile stretch of Eagle Pass, Texas, that Texas authorities installed to prevent illegal migrants from entering the country. Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, on the Rio Grande River.
Both sides blame each other.
Attorneys for the Biden administration told the court that the wire barrier blocked U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents from accessing the illegal border crossers entering the country. Attorneys for Texas countered that the state was forced to erect the border barrier because the federal government has been unable to secure the border.
The federal-state border standoff appears to be developing into a full-blown constitutional crisis as armed law enforcement officers on both sides refuse to acknowledge the other’s authority. The state refuses to remove the razor wire and is installing more wire fencing.
The Texas National Guard is handing over those it apprehends to the Texas Department of Public Safety to be charged with trespassing under state law.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor voted in the majority, siding with the Biden administration. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
On Jan. 24, the Biden administration demanded that Texas give up control over the Shelby Park area in Eagle Pass that it is occupying in an effort to keep illegal migrants from entering the United States, The Washington Examiner reported.
“The state has alleged that Shelby Park is open to the public, but we do not believe this statement is accurate,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security counsel Jonathan Meyer told Mr. Abbott in a letter.
“To our knowledge, Texas has only permitted access to Shelby Park by allowing public entry for a memorial, the media, and use of the golf course adjacent to Shelby Park, all while continuing to restrict U.S. Border Patrol’s access to the park.”
