UPDATED: Greg Abbott Declares That Biden Has ‘Broken the Compact’ Between the United States and Texas,
Invokes Right to Defend Itself from ‘Invasion’
AENN
Isaac Schorr Jan 24th, 2024, 2:48 pm UPDATED JANUARY 30, 2024
The State of New California Becomes the 26th State to Support Governor Abbott and Texas
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) is accusing President Joe Biden of having “broken the compact between the United States and the States” and is invoking the Lone Star State’s right to defend itself against the “invasion” of the southern border.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Abbott asserted that ” 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” and lamented that “President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress,” as well as “instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.”
“James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution 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,” argued Abbott. “That is why the Framers included both Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government ‘shall protect each [State] against invasion,’ and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges ‘the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.’”
He continued:
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. 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.
The crisis at the southern border has deteriorated over the last several years, leading to friction between Biden and Abbott. Abbott’s declaration of his authority is likely a response to the Supreme Court ruling on Monday that federal Border Patrol agents could cut razor wire put up along the border by Texas.
