Greg Abbott: Texas Has the Right to Defend Its Own Border

By Ward Clark | 2:43 PM on February 18, 2024



Townhall Media/Julio Rosas

In an op-ed published in the New York Post on Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott laid out the case for Texas doing what the Biden Administration refuses to do: Deal with the crisis at the southern border.

One of the most crucial rights granted in the U.S. Constitution is a state’s ability to secure its own border.

James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” emphasized that Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 would allow Virginia’s state militia “to be called forth to suppress smugglers” who had endangered their state.

Those smugglers were bringing contraband into the state and threatened the sovereignty of Virginia’s borders. Madison knew that states must have the means to defend themselves.

John Marshall reinforced this right held by states. He too was an important advocate for ratifying the Constitution, and later a Chief Justice on the Supreme Court.

Marshall explained that Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 “clearly proves that the states can use the militia when they find it necessary,” to respond to an invasion or imminent danger.

Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 states:

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

The "...unless actually invaded" is the relevant clause here, and it's hard to deny that millions of people crossing the southern border illegally constitutes anything other than an invasion.

In laying out his case, Governor Abbott brings up a historical example in James Madison, when the "Father of the Constitution" applied the relevant clause in the case of smugglers bringing contraband into Virginia.

James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” emphasized that Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 would allow Virginia’s state militia “to be called forth to suppress smugglers” who had endangered their state.

Those smugglers were bringing contraband into the state and threatened the sovereignty of Virginia’s borders. Madison knew that states must have the means to defend themselves.

John Marshall reinforced this right held by states. He too was an important advocate for ratifying the Constitution, and later a Chief Justice on the Supreme Court.

Abbott has been a strong voice for closing the southern border. As he notes, 24 other GOP governors have joined him in calling on the federal government to finally get serious about this issue (I'm pleased to note that Alaska's Governor Dunleavy is among them) and bring the mess on the border under control.

It's hard, however, not to think that this is deliberate on the part of Democrats. The vast majority of illegal aliens pouring into the United States are being shuttled to blue states and cities; the way the U.S. Census is now configured, those illegal aliens are counted in that tabulation and are therefore reckoned in when re-apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. This has the feature - not bug - of possibly tipping the balance of the House of Representatives to the Democrats, whether or not these illegal immigrants are allowed to vote. We can presume - we cannot know for sure, but we can presume - that this is intentional.

The southern border remains an oozing sore. The Biden Administration is disinclined to take any serious action. That leaves it up to the border state governors, with the support of the remaining states. The Constitution seems very clear on this issue. And, very likely, this will be the issue in the 2024 elections.

Governor Abbott has made his case; the ball is now in Joe Biden's court.

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/...order-n2170295