Just wondering what people’s thoughts are on Texas trying to secure its own border.
I’m all for it.
If the gov’t won’t do their job, kudos to Texas and Abbott for showing the country that waiting for a gov’t “handout” is not a course of action.
And thanks to Elon Musk (yes, him), Abbott’s letter has already been viewed 60 million times on X.
Spin all you want, MSM.
I’m all for it too. Unfortunate that it has come to this. Hope it stays peaceful and doesn’t turn into something much bigger and worse, like the last time we had a conflict over State vs. Federal rights.
From: Texas v. Biden | Brion McClanahan Author & Historian
Texas told the Biden administration to take a hike.
But this isn’t “nullification”.
Texas insists that the Biden administration enforce the laws of the United States.
Biden has so far refused and instead retaliated by cutting off natural gas exports from Texas.
In other words, Biden has chosen economic warfare against a State, the very definition of treason in the Constitution, to appease the hard left faction in his political party.
This is the very thing the founding generation feared from the executive branch.
Some background is in order.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas National Guard to construct obstacles—barbed wire fencing and shipping containers–on land adjacent to the Rio Grande River. This is Texas property, not federal land.
The United States Border Patrol used it as a processing center for illegal aliens, and thus it became a focal point for massive numbers of “migrants” crossing into Texas across the Rio Grande River.
Invasion would be a better word.
Texas then told the Border Patrol that they were no longer allowed on State property while Texas law enforcement began arresting and deporting illegal aliens.
The Federal Government sued in federal court and demanded that the razor wire and makeshift border wall come down. Biden’s Justice Department also argued that Texas’ efforts to enforce federal immigration lawviolated the Constitution.
“Texas cannot run its own immigration system. It’s efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations.”
Here’s the catch. Texas isn’t running its own immigration system. It’s enforcing existing federal law.
Every officer in the United States, from the local governments to the President, takes an oath to uphold constitutional federal law. Biden did so in 2021. That is the primary language of his oath of office.
Biden has not claimed that immigration laws are unconstitutional. He has not claimed that these people are crossing the border legally.
He admits that they are entering Texas illegally, meaning his only job is enforcing the laws on the books, something his administration is clearly refusing to do.
Texas has done it for him.
But this raises several larger Constitutional questions.
The Founders unequivocally considered “invasion” to be one of the important reasons States maintained control of their own militia units.
That would be the modern misnamed “National Guard.”
Biden cannot “nationalize” the Guard in this instance because federal law would not allow it.
The Texas National Guard is already enforcing federal law, meaning that if Biden nationalized the Guard and told them to stand down, he would be in violation of the Constitution.
He would also violate federal law. The Insurrection Act of 1792 allows the President to nationalize the militia (National Guard) in three instances: to suppress insurrection, stop domestic violence, or enforce federal law.
Allowing invasion is not on the list. Nor is breaking the law.
That would be a dereliction of duty, an impeachable offense.
The parallels between Biden’s actions and other stand-offs between the States and the general government are impossible to find.
Texas wants to enforce federal law.
In 1798, Virginia and Kentucky nullified the Alien and Sedition Acts because they violated the Constitution. This wasn’t a case of neglect.
In 1815, several New England States refused to enforce laws in support of the War of 1812. Again, not a case of neglect.
In 1832, South Carolina nullified the federal tariff. Jackson threatened to send in the army to collect the tariff. He wasn’t refusing to enforce a federal law.
In the 1840s and 1850s, several Northern States refused to enforce the fugitive slave laws. The Supreme Court ruled that States did not have to use their own police powers to support federal law.
But in this case, Texas is supporting federal law. The Biden Administration has vacated its Constitutional responsibility.
The Justice Department’s claim that the general government has “exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens” would also be news to the founding generation.
States could determine residency and who could and could not be within their borders. Jefferson made this contention in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. After 1808, the general government could prohibit “persons” from entering the States, but this power was not denied to the States in Article I, Section 10, meaning the States could also allow or prohibit “persons” from entering their borders.
The “supremacy clause” only applies to laws made in “pursuance of the Constitution.”
Nor does the 14th Amendment cover illegal aliens. Only citizens of the States are entitled to due process and the privileges and immunities of citizens of the other States. Foreign nationals are not citizens of any State or the United States.
This is an open and shut case of dangerous abuse of power by the executive branch. If the Republicans in Congress had any spine, they would immediately impeach Biden for his action against Texas and inaction on immigration enforcement.
In the Philadelphia Convention, James Madison listed “negligence” and betraying “his trust to a foreign power” as the chief causes of impeachment, among others.
Attempting to coerce a State though economic boycotts would satisfy Gouverneur Morris’s definition of “treachery”, what he considered to be an impeachable offense.
In either case, Biden should be easily convicted and booted from power.
That is, if we had a real Constitutional government in the federal city.
That dream died in 1789 in the First Congress.
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I would like to see the case make it to the Supreme Court and give states explicitly stated ability to enforce federal immigration law when the federal government won’t.
For color, I think it was the right choice to send illegals around the country instead of leaving them in Texas. A few hundred of them have major cities like NY and Chicago throwing shit fits. Imagine millions. It was getting old hearing “Texas is just racist” every time there was a complaint.
Unfortunately the shipping method filters out the worst of the experience. The drug mules, coyotes, human traffickers and other dangerous people, or bad hombres, have already been filtered out and are still being handled in Texas. I feel like we should put them in New Yorks streets too, for the authentic experience. It would be fun to watch a cartel vs mafia war play out too. (I’m betting on the cartels).
Lots of shit doesn’t get reported. I do a lot of hunting and fishing about an hour from the border. There are federal drug check stations every few miles, ICE, DEA, FBI and who knows what other agency vehicles are constantly cruising, like municipality traffic control officers. Homes on ranches are broken in to, property is stolen and occasionally people are assaulted. Usually these guys, from genuine migrants to mules are trying to be undetected but the region is a desert and they will take risks, and put you at risk, for some water and supplies. Or if you’re out hunting and walk up on a group of people with enough cocaine to go to jail for decades, get killed by the cartel for not delivering or have their families killed by the cartel for not delivering, you may wind up in an old fashioned cowboys and Indians scenario.
Once upon a time my wife was a teacher in Houston. She worked at a title one school (poor, which means high crime and usually gang activity in a big city) and they went on lockdown one day. US Marshall’s entered the campus and escorted one of her students away in to witness protection. It turns out her dad was the leader of a local gang who fucked up with the cartel somehow and they “greenlit” hitmen from Mexico to wipe out his entire family. She was the last one and they were going to kill her after school. 6th grade. Cartel hitmen killing Americans in a major US city. You’d think this would make national news but it didn’t. It wasn’t even local news.
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are just downplayed by msm and local reports are written off as “racist Texans” or conspiracies.
Someone needs to implement control.
On a related note, I’m eager for my next visit to my brother in Massachusetts. I usually stay away from politics during my visits, but I can’t pass on the chance to feign shock when I see that they haven’t answered the governor’s call.
What could possibly be a better use of that nice spare bedroom and bath than making the home more diverse, and thus stronger?
Regarding the original topic, this seems like a “buckle up” moment to me.
How far will this administration go to advance their open conspiracy to flood the nation with likely democratic voters while simultaneously making the election process as murky as possible, like my state of Maine?
Here you can register with a utility bill. It doesn’t even need to be your name, because there is no verification process. As long as you remember to repeat the name when you show up to vote, you can vote.
This resulted in turnout that boggles the mind during 2022. 680,000 out of 900,000 eligible adults. During a midterm. That’s bonkers.
Meanwhile we are going full woke, fast. Drugs, crime, migrants in luxury apartments, trans the kids, homelessness as a commodity and profit center, tax hikes, we’re embracing it all.
I believe the stage is now set for de-facto one party rule for quite some time.
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They already work together where they share common interests and ignore each other where their interests don’t conflict.
Has she taken any in?
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It shouldn’t even be an issue.
If you leave NJ, and head towards NYC to take the GWB, there is a toll you need to pay. Think about it, you need to pay in order to cross a border between states as a free American.
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That’s cool. But I bet infringing on territorial distribution channels would be an interesting problem.
You’re screwed, buddy. Susan Collins is, literally, a RINO.
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Pretty sure the reason “Biden” wants Texas’ border problem to remain “unsolved” is because of leverage for the disputed bill that purports to provide “solutions”:
Has Ukraine not already won that war? They were killing eleventeen billion Russians everyday, from what I gathered. I know Russia has a lot of people, but eleventeen billions times almost two years worth of days is, like, more than the world’s population. And Ukraine still has Zelensky calling the shots, right? If anyone knows how to win a war, it’s a feminine actor who doesn’t wear suits.