WASHINGTON, DC, July 11 — If President Biden or his “Border Czar,” Vice President Harris, won’t take measures to stem the unprecedented surge of illegals at our southern border, maybe it’s time for the governors of Texas and Arizona to take matters into their own hands.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already done so. He issued an executive order late last week that gives the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety authority to begin arresting illegals and sending them back to the border. In a news release announcing his decision, Abbott said: “While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border. The cartels have become emboldened and enriched by President Biden’s open border policies, smuggling in record numbers of people, weapons, and deadly drugs like fentanyl.”
Meanwhile, it appears likely that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey will soon follow suit. His Attorney General Mark Brnovich is petitioning the governor to do just that. In an appeal to the governor, he explained that ”Violence by cartels and gangs who have now assumed control of our southern border meets the legal threshold for an invasion, but it is up to the governor to make that actual determination. If this happens, you, as commander in chief, can exercise independent authority under the state self-defense clause of the Constitution to defend Arizona from the invasion.”
Attorney General Brnovich claims that Arizona does have the Constitutional right to treat the matter as an invasion. In his official ruling, he reminded Governor Ducey: “The on-the-ground violence and lawlessness at Arizona’s border caused by cartels and gangs is extensive, well-documented, and persistent. It can satisfy the definition of ‘actually invaded’ and ‘invasion’ under the U.S. Constitution…Last year, your office deployed the National Guard and declared a state of emergency at our border, but as the Biden-made disaster continues to intensify, there are more actions that we now have to consider.”
In its report on the issue of invasion, Fox News says, “language in Article I of the Constitution, which allows for States to “engage in War” when it has been “actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay” without the approval of Congress. They also note Article IV says the U.S. “shall protect each [state] against invasion.”
Both Governors Ducey and Abbott agree that the border is out of control, that it needs to be confronted, and that President Biden’s approach is wrong-headed. In a Fox News interview, Ducey said “there’s a link between criminals coming over the border and rising crime, of that there’s no doubt…We’ve got nearly two million people that we’ve apprehended at this time. So, border security is national security. The federal government is failing at that…We don’t know who we’re not catching. These people are coming from 120-plus countries, including countries that harbor terrorists. So, of course we could have something terrible happen to our nation by this lack of attention to the federal border. But we could also just have this crime, violence, vandalism and murder that we see. So, there’s no doubt about it that there’s a link to it.”
In both Texas and Arizona, there is no question that Governors Abbott and Ducey have the cowboy courage to deal with the invasion.