A number of congressional Democrats have called for the Biden administration to seize control of Texas’ southern border.
Calls for federal seizure of the border follow Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Wednesday statement asserting the state's right to self-defense.
Abbott's statement comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling which granted the Biden administration authority to remove razor wire at the state's southern border.
Yesterday, Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro called for President Joe Biden to establish "sole federal control" over the Texas National Guard in Response to the Texas National Guard's defiance of SCOTUS' ruling earlier this week.
Castro said Biden was using the Texas National Guard to "obstruct and create chaos" at the southern border.
Fellow Texas Rep. Greg Casar posted a thread to X similarly calling for President Biden to seize control of the Texas border in response to Abbott's statement.
"Greg Abbott has continued to use political stunts and inflammatory language to advance his own agenda, violating the Constitution and endangering both U.S. citizens and asylum seekers," Casar wrote.
"If Abbott is defying yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, the President needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard," Casar said in agreement with Castro's Tuesday suggestion.
"We can create an immigration system that is safe, orderly, and humane," he continued. "It's Democrats' job to push back on razor wire, inhumane cages, and broken policies of the past."
Casar said it was also Democrat's responsibility to change "Trump-era sanctions that continue to destabilize Latin American economies."
"It's our job to ensure that America lives up to its promise for immigrants," Casar added. "And it’s our job to check power-hungry, anti-immigrant officials who only seek to create chaos."
Former Texas State Rep. Beto O'Rourke also joined Castro and Casar in calling for federal seizure of the state's southern border.
"Abbott is using the Texas Guard to defy a Supreme Court ruling," O'Rourke wrote. "When Gov. Faubus did this in 1957, Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas Guard to ensure compliance with the law."
"Biden must follow this example of bold, decisive leadership to end this crisis before it gets worse," he added.
Abbott's Wednesday statement accused Biden of ignoring Texas' demands to enforce federal laws to protect states and failing to perform his constitutional duties as President. "The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States," Abbott wrote. "The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The Texas governor said Biden's refusal to protect the state's southern border has "smashed records for illegal immigration." Abbot said Biden has “violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress,” “instructed agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants,” and is “wasting taxpayer dollars to tear down Texas’ border security infrastructure.” "Under President Biden's lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years," Abbott's statement continued. "That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United States." The Texas governor cited Article IV, § 4, of the Constitution, which notes the federal government "shall protect each [State] against invasion." Abbott also cited Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges "the States' sovereign interest in protecting their borders." "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," Abbott asserted. "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. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary." "The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border," Abbott concluded.Loading...
Abbott cited founding fathers James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and other authors of the United States Constitution who "foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border."
