Texas Governor Abbott announced Tuesday that he is invoking the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. and Texas Constitutions in his latest effort to increase security along the Texas-Mexico border.
In a tweet, Abbott said the move would “fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.”
While always very vocal about the need to take further steps to protect the Texas-Mexico border, in the past, Abbott had previously stopped short of calling the situation at the border an invasion, according to Fox 4 News.
Governor Abbott went on to list the actions to be taken:
- Deploying the National Guard to the border and turning back immigrants trying to cross illegally
- Sending DPS to the border to arrest and return people who crossed the border illegally
- Build a border wall in multiple counties
- Deploy gunboats to secure the border
- Designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
- Enter into an agreement with other states to secure the border
- Enter into agreements with foreign governments to enhance border security
- Provide resources for border counties to increase their efforts to respond to the border invasion
In July, Abbott invoked Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the “Invasion Clause.” He gave Texas state law enforcement the power to arrest unlawful migrants and drop them at ports of entry.
The Invasion Clause holds that the federal government “shall guarantee every State in this Union a Republican form of Government and shall protect each of them against Invasion.”
Border security was a top issue in Governor Abbott’s re-election campaign, which proved successful against Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
“Texans have demanded a more secure border,” he said during his victory speech after winning reelection by 11 points. “Where, and if, Congress falls short, Texas must continue our unprecedented efforts to secure our border.”
In a follow-up tweet, Abbott said Texas will continue to do more than any other state in history to secure its borders. This has most recently included busing 28 migrants to Philadelphia from Del Rio, Texas, as The Dallas Express reported.
Unlawful migration has been at an all-time high during the Biden administration, and the Department of Homeland Security numbers shows that for the fiscal year ending in September, 2.4 million unlawful migrants were detained at the border, a 37% increase year-over-year.
