A new report highlights how Texas can declare an invasion, shut down illegal border crossings, and push its representatives in Congress to expand the state’s ability to deal with illegal immigration.
As the border crisis continues to worsen, citizens are still calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to shut down illegal border crossings.
The latest report from the Huffines Liberty Foundation lays out how Texas can assert its authority under Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution to declare the current flood of illegal aliens crossing the border an invasion and shut down illegal border crossings itself.
Additionally, the report recommends that “As immigration reform legislation works its way through Congress, Texas should push its representatives in Congress to expand the power of states to deal directly with illegal immigration. This would include allowing states to fully enforce federal immigration laws, make a violation of federal immigration law a state crime, and make it illegal for illegal immigrants to apply for, solicit, or perform work.”
According to the report by former State Sen. Don Huffines and Bill Peacock, “the federal government has worked diligently over the last 230 years to reclaim many of those powers” originally designated for states or the people.
U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1830’s affirmed states’ roles in immigration policies, until a case in 1889—Chae Chan Ping v. U.S.—found that “Congress has extra-constitutional plenary power” over immigration.
Huffines and Peacock explain that “The centralization of power of immigration has had the exact consequences that our founders feared. The federal government today has purposely abandoned control of the border to suit the interests of the national government.”
The report says states can reclaim power over immigration either through the 10th amendment to the Constitution or an invasion declaration.
However, it also recommends that Texas’ congressional representatives push for returning to states the power to make a violation of federal immigration law a state crime, the power to authorize state law enforcement to make warrantless arrests under probable cause that an arrestee has committed an offense that renders them removable under federal immigration law, and power to the states to make it illegal for illegal aliens to apply for, solicit, or perform work.
“The only way to get illegal immigration under control is to expand the ability of states to address the problem independently of the federal government,” the report reads.
“Cooperation and the sharing of power between the state and federal government was one of the primary features of the government adopted by our founders in the U.S. Constitution,” it concludes. “Returning to the original design and intent of our structure of government would significantly reduce illegal immigration in our nation and restore the separation of government powers which increases liberty for everyone.”
“The border invasion is a premeditated attack on Texas to turn us blue,” Huffines told Texas Scorecard. “We are the last border state with a Republican Governor. To save America (and the free world), Texas must win this fight.”
The full report can be found here.
