Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) declared an “invasion” at the chaotic southern border on Tuesday. He indicated that he would be taking “unprecedented measures … to keep our state & country safe.”
Gov. Abbott wrote a letter on Monday to all the county judges along the Texas-Mexico border in which he claimed, “President Biden has abandoned his responsibility to enforce immigration laws, and Congress has refused to hold the President accountable and has abandoned its own responsibility to use the immigration power given to it in Article I, § 8 of the U.S. Constitution.”
The popular governor invoked Article 4, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution. It clearly states that the governor “shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.”
Abbott also stated that he would use his constitutional authority along with his ability to use executive orders to deploy the National Guard to safeguard the border and to repel and turn back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally.
That is not all; he would also deploy the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to arrest and return the border immigrants who crossed illegally and arrest those illegal immigrants for criminal activity.
The governor would also use his authority to build a border wall in several counties on the border, deploy gunboats, and designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Governor Abbott hopes to enter into a compact with other states in securing the border and also enter into agreements with foreign powers to enhance border security.
Abbott announced through social media that he had “invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.”
The irony is that this announcement came just hours after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the House Committee on Homeland Security that the southern border was secure.
Mayorkas Says Southern Border is Secure, Governor Abbott Disagrees
Mayorkas can say whatever he wants, but Fox News reported that FBI Director Christopher Wray thinks otherwise. He said that the situation at the border includes significant criminal threats coming from south of the border with guns, drugs, money, and violence.
The statewide declaration of invasion from Governor Abbott was sparked by citizens of Hopkins County, Texas first. KETK reported that the Hopkins County commissioners court approved the declaration of a local state of disaster in their area on Monday.
The county declaration stated that the “health, safety and welfare of Hopkins County residents are under an imminent threat of disaster from the unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug smuggling coming across the U.S. border from Mexico.”
The Hopkins County declaration said the “ongoing immigration crisis on the Texas border is not acceptable and has resulted in a security threat and humanitarian disaster with overwhelming consequences to the residents of Hopkins County.”
There have been over 2.76 million illegal aliens who have come illegally across the southern border and into the United States during the fiscal year of 2022. And so far this year, there have been 1,142 criminal aliens convicted of assault; 1,614 convicted of driving under the influence; 62 convicted of homicide; 365 convicted of sexual offenses. This is not all, there are thousands more that have been convicted of other crimes as well.
The declaration from Hopkins County asked the governor that since he was the Commander-in-Chief of the state’s military forces, he should declare the existence of an invasion at the border with Mexico. They challenged him to take all the necessary actions to preserve and protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their state.
Gov. Abbott didn’t wince. He did it.
