Former President Donald Trump has called on states to deploy National Guard troops to Texas to remove illegal immigrants across the border amid the state’s ongoing feud with the Biden administration over razor wire fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The former president also expressed his support for Texas in its high-profile conflict with federal border protection agencies over the use of concertina wire along the southern border.
‘Invasion Clause’
Declaring that the influx of illegal immigrants into his states amounts to an “invasion” that the Biden administration has failed to repel, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Jan. 24 announced that he was invoking what’s been dubbed the invasion clause of the U.S. Constitution.“The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement.
“For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself,” he said.
“That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary,” the Texas governor added.
President Trump expressed support for Mr. Abbott’s move.
“In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion,” President Trump said in Thursday’s statement.
He added that, when he was in the Oval Office, the border was secure and that his successor, President Biden, has not only given up on trying to secure the border but is actively “aiding and abetting a massive invasion” of illegal immigrants.
President Trump further charged that President Biden was trying to hinder Mr. Abbott in his efforts to protect his state from the “onslaught” and in fact is working to keep the influx going “unchecked.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bill to Bar Feds From Cutting Texas Fence
While President Trump called for the National Guard to help Texas secure its border amid the feud with the Biden administration over razor wire fencing, a Republican senator has introduced a bill that would prohibit the federal government from removing fencing states put up along the U.S.-Mexico border.“My bill would codify the right of every state along the U.S.-Mexico border to defend its own territory. If Joe Biden refuses to take action, let the states get the job done.”
“President Biden is aiding and abetting illegal aliens who are swarming our border and raiding our country’s resources. Why else would he try to stop the state of Texas from turning them back to Mexico?” Mr. Collins said in a statement.
“With the Supreme Court siding with the America Last policies of the Biden administration, Congress must stand with Governor Greg Abbott as he fights for the sovereignty of his state and our nation,” he added.
With its 5-4 judgment earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in its emergency appeal to get permission for federal agents to cut the razor wire in Texas.
“Enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“Rather than helping to reduce irregular migration, the State of Texas has only made it harder for frontline personnel to do their jobs and to apply consequences under the law. We can enforce our laws and administer them safely, humanely, and in an orderly way.”
Razor Wire Dispute
In response to record numbers of illegal border crossings, Mr. Abbott ordered razor wire to be installed while also authorizing floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, and allowing troopers to arrest and jail thousands of illegal immigrants on trespassing charges.Installation of the razor wire sparked a tense, ongoing legal dispute with the Biden administration, which sought to assert federal supremacy in enforcing border policy and ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to cut the wire.
The State of Texas then sued the Biden administration on Oct. 24, 2023, over what state officials said was the CBP’s practice of “cutting, destroying, or otherwise damaging Texas’s concertina wire that had been strategically positioned for the purpose of securing the border and stemming the flow of illegal migration,” according to the filing.
‘Culpable and Duplicitous Conduct’
Later, Judge Moses, on Nov. 29, 2023, denied Texas’s request, citing insufficient evidence that Border Patrol agents who cut the wire had violated the law. However, the judge was sharply critical of the Biden administration’s enforcement of border policies.“The immigration system at the heart of it all, dysfunctional and flawed as it is, would work if properly implemented. Instead, the status quo is a harmful mixture of political rancor, ego, and economic and geopolitical realities that serves no one,” Judge Moses wrote in the order.
“The law may be on the side of the defendants and compel a resolution in their favor today, but it does not excuse their culpable and duplicitous conduct,” she added.
Texas immediately appealed the order, with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the state’s favor, pausing Judge Moses’ order that gave Border Patrol agents legal cover to keep cutting the concertina wire.
The appeals court said the lower court “legally erred with respect to sovereign immunity” and stated that the razor wire could only be cut in cases of medical emergency.
The Biden administration then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that if the appeals court’s reasoning stands, then it would force the federal government to conform the implementation of federal immigration laws to state rules.
“Balanced against the impairment of federal law enforcement and risk to human life, the court of appeals cited as Texas’s harm only the price of wire and the cost of closing a gap created by Border Patrol agents,” the Biden administration said in its appeal.
