Politics
By Bethany Blankley (The Central Square)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is among 25 governors who have expressed support for defending the Texas border. He was one of the first governors to send reinforcements to support Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security effort about two years ago.
DeSantis was responding to an ultimatum given Thursday by the Biden administration to Abbott to tear down wire barriers he had built and cede control of a park in Eagle Pass, Texas. The president is also demanding that Texas allow access to a 2.5-mile stretch of state land along the Rio Grande River so that Border Patrol agents can allow illegal alien citizens to enter between ports of entry.
This constitutes a direct violation of the laws established by Congress and the US Constitution, Abbott claims, and he refuses to comply with any requests.
The conflict escalated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents could destroy Texas’ accordion-wire barriers in Eagle Pass. It does not instruct Texas to remove barriers or stop enforcing state law.
The Biden administration argues that Texas’ actions are unconstitutional and disrupt Border Patrol operations. Abbott claims the president is facilitating criminal activity, has violated his oath of office and has broken the federal government’s compact with the states.
The escalation continues as calls for President Joe Biden to federalize Texas National Guard troops raise more constitutional questions. If Texas troops were to be federalized when they were called back under constitutional authority to protect the Texas border, such a move could constitute an unimpeachable crime, a constitutional law expert argues.
On Thursday, DeSantis posted a video asking, “Can the federal government defy the law and force a state to allow a foreign invasion?”, responding that the Founding Fathers would say no.
The president calling for Texas to “remove fortifications along its border to allow people to come in illegally is just crazy,” DeSantis said. “If the Constitution had originally been understood to mean that a state could not protect itself from an invasion, that the federal government could force a state to allow an invasion, the Constitution would never have been ratified. Texas would never have joined the union in that case.”
He also referenced Federalist 46 in which Founding Father James Madison described “situations in which federal encroachment can be mitigated by state action.” He said Texas “is standing its ground and has every right to enforce the border visa through invasion,” referring to Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution.
The clause has been cited in encroachment resolutions passed by officials in 51 Texas counties, and more are expected to follow. Kinney, Goliad and Terrell counties were the first to declare an invasion in the history of Texas and the United States, on July 5, 2022. The constitutional issues at play today are what they warned about in 2021, when they were also the first to issue disaster declarations, citing the border crisis.
DeSantis also highlighted situations “where liberal jurisdictions for many years have been sanctuary jurisdictions against enforcement of federal immigration law. They will deliberately act to defeat the laws on the books and somehow that’s seen as OK,” but it’s not OK when Texas “acts to enforce the laws on the books to ensure that they have a safe state and we have a safe country. ,” he said.
“So everything Biden is doing is just nonsense,” DeSantis continued. “Texas has every right to stand its ground. In Florida we have been sending people to help for many years now because we understand that this is not just a Texas issue, but ultimately an American issue. If we don’t have sovereignty in this country, we will no longer be a country. Texas has every right to stand its ground to stay the course, and Florida will continue to be there to help every step of the way.”
Reprinted with permission from The Center Square.
