During an interview with Texas Scorecard at the Republican Party of Texas Convention last week, Wade Miller of Citizens for Renewing America described the organization’s plan to secure the border against the ongoing invasion. Miller, the executive director of Citizens for Renewing America, shared how the organization aims to empower Republican state governments to fight federal overreach.
Specifically regarding the southern border crisis, Miller stated President Biden and his administration are not interested in securing the border in any capacity and that the situation violates Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution, which guarantees protection from invasion by the federal government.
The answer, Miller says, is for the state to take action into its own hands.
Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution provides state governments with legal jurisdiction to repel an invasion, no matter what the federal government says. However, it is only with this power that the state of Texas can do something about the border, since it does not have the power to govern federal borders or federal laws.
Miller further described the gravity of the invasion: “When you have 2.4 million [migrants] illegally crossing the border [and] cartels actively participating, that is an invasion.”
Miller addressed legal concerns by discussing how his organization “requested a legal opinion on [declaring an invasion]” from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who called the declaration “a valid action.” The leading candidate for Arizona governor, Kari Lake, has adopted the issue as part of her campaign, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said he would defend the decision in court if the governor or Legislature made such a declaration.
Miller called Gov. Greg Abbott’s seriousness on the issue into question, noting that securing the border is a top priority for grassroots activists and the average Republican voter.
Every month, migrants on the terrorist watchlist, international drug cartels, black market weapons dealers, murderers, and rapists are entering through the southern border in numbers stronger than 200,000. This has led to activists like Wade Miller demanding to know why the governor has been lenient on border protection—not just for the sake of Texas, but for the nation.
In addition to talking about the border, Miller described Texas as being “way behind on a policy perspective on a whole bunch of different issues,” explaining that “until the Heartbeat Bill, Texas was way behind other states on pro-life legislation.”
Miller also described Democrat states as having “more conservative [election integrity laws] than Texas.” When asked why this is the case, he simply replied, “Well, look at who’s leading the Republican Party in the [Texas] House.”
