Article 1 Section 10 clause 3 of the United States Consitution, declares that “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.”

Article 4 section 7 of the Texas Constitution states, “[The Governor] shall have the power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott earlier this week invoked both of these invasion clauses in response to the federal government’s lack of action to secure the US-Mexico Border. Abbott has declared he will use this federal and state constitutional authority as Governor to secure the Texas border until the federal government will start doing something about the border crisis. 

Abbott is saying, if the federal government will not deal with the border crisis, Texas will take over with authority granted in the Consitution to defend itself with everything in its power to do so.

Furthermore, the federal government can no longer use Title 42, a law summoned during the pandemic that allowed the border patrol to quickly expel migrants. However this past week a federal judge blocked the Biden Administration from utilizing it any longer.

Earlier this week, Governor Abbott sent three letters criticizing the federal government’s lack of action, and reiterating the initiatives he will be increasing to secure the border. One letter was sent to county judges in border counties; the second to DPS and the Texas Military Department; and the third to President Joe Biden.

In the letter to county judges in border counties, Abbott stated the US Congress should reimburse Texas for the 4 billion it has spent on the border, something Abbott declares is the federal government’s job; federal officials violating immigration laws should be tried and possibly impeached, and Congress should change certain federal laws so that those troops deployed at the border are not “exposed to federal criminal prosecution for protecting Texas against illegal entry between the ports of entry,” said Abbott.

In the letter addressed to President Biden, Governor Abbott accused Biden of violating Article 4 section 4 of the US Consitution that declares the federal government will protect the states from invasion. Governor Abbott also listed that Biden is failing to enforce federal laws that criminalize illegal crossings and violating federal rules on how the US should admit migrants. 

In the letter to DPS Director Steve McGraw and Texas Military Department Adjutant General Thomas Suelzer, Abbott ordered both of them to “use all resources and tools available to repel immigrants from attempting to cross illegally, arrest those who cross illegally and return them to the border, and arrest criminals who violate Texas law.”

For the past year, Abbott has conducted a robust border security program, Operation Lonestar, which has amassed over 4 billion in state funding. Millions of immigrants have been apprehended, hundreds of millions of lethal doses of fentanyl have been uncovered, and Governor Abbott has gone as far as to label Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Furthermore, Governor Abbott seeks efforts for Texas to build its border wall. 

Abbott has also been utilizing the status of sanctuary cities across the US and busing migrants to relieve Texas border communities. Philadelphia has been added to the list of cities to send migrants along with Washington D.C., New York City, and Chicago.