Texas Moves to Secure Its Southern Border Against ‘Invasion’ of Illegal Immigrants

The Texas Military Department is sending ten M113 armored personnel carriers to the state’s southern border as “part of a larger strategy to use every available tool to fight back against the record-breaking level of illegal immigration,” the Military Times reported.

The order, which includes training 50 soldiers to operate the vehicles, came a few days after Governor Greg Abbott tweeted that he had “invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.”

I invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. & Texas Constitutions to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to defend our state against an invasion.

I’m using that constitutional authority, & other authorization & Executive Orders to keep our state & country safe: pic.twitter.com/2Jt5HEMgp5

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 15, 2022

It was the latest response by the governor to a huge influx of illegal immigrants into his state.

As the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported, fiscal year (FY) 2022 was the highest on record for encounters with immigrants illegally entering the country, with the U.S. Border Patrol and the Office of Field Offices listing 2,766,582 encounters with agents.

Those numbers far outstripped the FY 2021 total of 1,956,519 and FY 2020’s 646,822 encounters.

Most of these encounters, 2,378,944 in FY 2022, take place at the United States’ southwest border, which stretches from the tip of Texas, across New Mexico and Arizona, all the way to San Diego, California.

And those are reported encounters: It is impossible to know how many immigrants slip across the southern border into the U.S. without being confronted by border officials. In addition to those apprehended, the CBP also seizes drugs, combats sex trafficking, nabs counterfeit and pirated goods, and arrests criminals and gang members.

In March 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott began taking steps to stem the flood, launching “Operation Lone Star” through the Department of Public Safety (DPS), “to combat the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas.”

Abbott stated:

Texas supports legal immigration but will not be an accomplice to the open border policies that cause, rather than prevent, a humanitarian crisis in our state and endanger the lives of Texans. We will surge the resources and law enforcement personnel needed to confront this crisis.

Since its launch, the operation “has led to over 325,000 migrant apprehensions and more than 21,900 criminal arrests, with more than 19,400 felony charges reported. In the fight against fentanyl, DPS has seized over 352 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission.”

According to the Military Times, Operation Lone Star has sent thousands of soldiers and DPS officials to the border. The outlet said:

The effort has included placing shipping containers and rows of DPS and military vehicles along the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing, plus using state money and donations to build border barriers.

But the governor upped the ante last week, saying the state needs to defend against “what amounts to an invasion of America’s southern border” and announcing that Texas had “no choice but to escalate our efforts to secure our state.”

In a letter to President Biden, the governor said, “The U.S. Constitution won ratification by promising the States, in Article IV, § 4, that the federal government ‘shall protect each of them against Invasion.’”

Abbott said Texans were paying the price for the administration’s failure to secure the border:

Ranches are being ripped apart, and homes are vulnerable to intrusion. Our border communities are regularly disrupted by human traffickers and bailouts [cars with immigrants who “bailout” and flee into the country]. Deadly fentanyl is crossing the porous border to such a degree that it is now the leading cause of death for citizens between the ages of 18 and 45.

The letter also said Texas was compelled “to invoke the powers reserved in Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which represents ‘an acknowledgement of the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.’”

The letter said:

Using that authority, Texas will escalate our efforts to repel and turn back any immigrant who seeks to enter our State at a border crossing that Congress has designated as illegal; to return to the border those who do cross illegally; and to arrest criminals who violate Texas law.

Abbott also announced that he had “ordered DPS and the Texas Military Department to expand their unprecedented efforts to combat the growing illegal immigration along the Texas-Mexico border.”

In addition to the armored personnel carriers, the Military Times stated the Texas National Guard “is increasing ‘aircraft flights and security efforts’ on the border.”

As the Daily Citizen has previously opined, border security is an issue that Christians should be concerned about, as it affects families and children. Open border policies have led to huge influxes of single adults, families and children, many of them unaccompanied.

Children and women are subject to rape, abuse and sex trafficking. And families are harmed by criminals and gang members coming across the border, as well as the flow of drugs and weapons into the U.S.

Thankfully, Texas is taking some steps to stem the tide and stop the damage.

Related articles and resources:

Burgeoning Border Crisis Spirals Out of Control, Officials Fear ‘Mass Migration Event’

It’s Compassionate to Oppose Illegal Immigration. Here’s Why.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents Encounter 200,000 Illegal Immigrants in July

U.S. Border Patrol Encounters 239,416 Illegal Immigrants in May, Highest in U.S. History

 

Photo from Shutterstock.

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