FIRST ON FOX – A bunch of 26 attorneys basic are defending Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s proper to defend his state “against invasion” amid a bitter border battle between Texas and President Joe Biden.
Final week, Abbott mentioned he would assert Article 1 powers to defend in opposition to an “invasion” on the border whereas the Biden administration refuses to implement federal immigration legal guidelines. His announcement sparked an argument that can play out in courtroom about what authorized grounds Abbott can declare to assist his resolution.
In a letter obtained by Fox Information Digital, 26 Republican attorneys basic inform President Biden and Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that they assist the Lone Star State, saying that “thousands and thousands of individuals illegally coming into Texas as a part of a coordinated assault on our border is an invasion” and that “states must be able to defend themselves from invasion.”
The escalating disaster on the Texas-Mexico border got here to a head final week after the Supreme Court docket dominated 5-4 to quickly overturn a decrease courtroom’s injunction that banned the federal authorities from reducing razor fencing Texas had put in alongside the border close to Eagle Cross whereas litigation continues.
Concertina wire strains the trail as members of Congress tour an space close to the Texas-Mexico border, Jan. 3, 2024, in Eagle Cross, Texas. (AP Picture/Eric Homosexual, File)
Abbott mentioned that although the Supreme Court docket mentioned the Biden administration may proceed reducing the fencing, the order doesn’t forestall him from persevering with to assemble the razor wire fencing – which is what he promised to do regardless of sharp criticism from the White Home.
Of their letter, the AGs inform the White Home, “As lawyers yourselves, you must know that reports that Texas is ignoring or ‘defying’ the Supreme Court are wrong, either misunderstanding or deliberately misstating the law.”
“The Supreme Court’s order did not tell Texas that it could or could not do anything. Texas should be applauded for continuing to try to protect the border despite the federal government now, again, being able to try to destroy the barriers Texas builds.,” the AGs observe.
The AGs add that “states must be able to defend themselves from invasion,” and that
nobody severely contests that time.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Article I, section 10, clause 3 lays out the circumstances that states may act to defend themselves in a crisis, the AGs write
Article 1, Section 10, which Abbott says was “triggered” by Biden’s inaction at the border, states, “No State shall, with out the Consent of Congress, lay any Responsibility of Tonnage, preserve Troops, or Ships of Struggle in time of Peace, enter into any Settlement or Compact with one other State, or with a international Energy, or have interaction in Struggle, except really invaded, or in such imminent Hazard as won’t admit of delay.”
“Justice Scalia mentioned it greatest in his dissent in Arizona v. United States: States have a ‘sovereign interest in protecting their borders,’” they mentioned, referencing a 2012 Supreme Court case.
“Proper now cartels, terror teams, and different unhealthy actors are profiting from the chaos by the border to orchestrate a mass inflow of individuals. Gangs are utilizing the flood of individuals to cover their ‘predator’ members as they enter the USA,” they said.
“Thousands and thousands of individuals illegally coming into Texas as a part of a coordinated assault on our border is an invasion. No state, not even Texas, can deal with such an inflow of individuals. And nobody—not Texas, not the USA—is aware of whether or not any particular person illegally crossing the border is participating in extra felony exercise,” they argued.
ABBOTT DECLARES TEXAS HAS ‘RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE’ FROM MIGRANT ‘INVASION’ AMID FEUD WITH BIDEN ADMIN
A U.S. Border Patrol agent watches over more than 2,000 migrants at a field processing center on December 18, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Attorneys General Brenna Bird of Iowa and Sean Reyes of Utah, who led the Monday letter, note that since Biden’s inauguration day in 2021, more than six million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border. “That’s successfully including the inhabitants of Iowa and Utah to our nation in lower than three years,” they mentioned.
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“The invasion on our southern border has made each state a border state,” Bird told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“If the Biden Administration received’t do its job to safe our border and preserve People protected, it ought to step apart to let the States do the job for them,” she said.
Texas’ fight is our fight,” Lawyer Basic Reyes instructed Fox Information Digital. “And if the White House will not defend our laws and innocent citizens, states have the authority under the U.S. Constitution to defend themselves,” he mentioned.
