Democrats are calling on President Joe Biden to seize control of the Texas National Guard amid Governor Greg Abbott’s allegations that the White House has “broken the compact” between Washington and the states on immigration policy.
“Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border. If Abbott is defying yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, @POTUS needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now,” Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, wrote this week in an explosive social media post.
The Supreme Court ruled in a narrow 5-4 decision Monday authorizing federal Border Patrol agents to remove razor-wire fencing set up by Texas authorities on Abbott’s instructions. National Guard troops were earlier deployed to Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas – a community along the Rio Grande River which has become a major hub of illegal immigration from Mexico, and blocked Border Patrol agents from accessing the park. Guard units will continue to “protect the sovereignty of our State” and “hold the line in Shelby Park to deter and prevent unlawful entry into the State of Texas,” the National Guard said in a statement.
The controversial court ruling has sparked fears of a major constitutional crisis in the United States, with Abbott issuing a “Statement on Texas’ Constitutional Right to Self-Defense,” stressing the state’s right to defend itself against an “invasion” of illegal immigrants, and accusing President Biden of violating and refusing to enforce immigration laws.
The authority to defend itself against invasion “is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary,” Abbott wrote. “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,” according to the governor.
Abbott’s fellow GOP governors from across more than two dozen states rallied in support of Texas’ “constitutional right to self-defense,” with several pledging to send their own National Guard formations to the state if requested to help secure the border. Former president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump called on “all willing states” to deploy National Guard units “to Texas to prevent the entry of illegals and to remove them back across the border.”
“In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion,” Trump said in a statement released Thursday, adding that “all Americans” should “support the commonsense measures” being taken by the Lone Star State.
Other Republicans accused President Biden and Washington of playing with fire. “The feds are staging a civil war, and Texas should stand their ground,” Louisiana GOP Representative Clay Higgins said in reaction to Monday’s court ruling.
“This opinion is unconscionable and Texas should ignore it on behalf of the [Border Patrol] agents who will be put in a worse position by the opinion and the Biden administration’s policies,” Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy wrote on social media on Tuesday.
Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has carried out a series of independent investigations into the border crisis, also praised Texas’ authorities in their struggle against the feds. “Texas is right. Biden’s failure to secure the border leaves states no choice but to take matters into their own hands,” the candidate wrote in a social media post.
The White House has given Texas authorities until Friday to back down, with Lone Star State Attorney General Ken Paxton saying Austin has no plans to comply.
What Sparked the Border Standoff?
Illegal immigration into the United States through the porous border with Mexico has experienced back-to-back-to-back record-setting numbers over the past three years following President Biden’s January 2021 decision to scrap nearly a dozen hardline immigration-related directives instituted by his predecessor. Some 3.2 million illegal aliens were encountered by Border Patrol agents nationwide in fiscal year 2023, up from 2.7 million in 2022, 1.6 million in 2021, and 400,650 in 2020, before Biden entered office.
Texas, which makes up about half of the 1,954-mile (3,145 km) border with Mexico, has become the frontline for people, drug, and weapons smuggling, taking the brunt of the economic and social problems associated with the influx, with Governor Abbott announcing a National Guard mission along the frontier in 2021 known as Operation Lone Star. The operation, funded to the tune of $2 billion per year, is designed to slow the flow of illegal immigrants into the US via Texas, and to take a series of measures to secure the border.
Last month, Abbott signed a bill to make illegal immigration a state-level crime, allowing state law enforcement to arrest aliens and letting courts issue orders to remove them from the US and send them back to Mexico.
How Serious are Texas' Economic and Military Capabilities?
The rapid escalation of the standoff between Texas and the feds sets a dangerous precedent amid the deep divisions facing US society and its political establishment. On top of that, Texas is one of the largest and most economically and militarily powerful states in the union, with a population of nearly 30 million people, and an annual GDP of about $2.4 trillion, making it the eighth largest economy in the world in nominal terms.
The Texas National Guard has up to 23,000 troops in its ranks, including battle-hardened veterans of US wars overseas, and runs 117 armories across the state storing everything from small arms to MRAP vehicles, Humvees, armored personnel carriers, and tanks. The Texas Air National Guard consists of 4,400 personnel, and operates aircraft including C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, Blackhawk helicopters, MQ-9 Reaper drones, F-16 fighters, and more.
Who Has Ultimate Authority Over the National Guard?
National Guard forces are under the dual control of individual states and the federal government, with Governor Abbott having the power to deploy the force to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies, or be activated in a security crisis.
Congress can authorize the president to take command of and use the National Guard to put down insurrections against state governments, tackle threats obstructing federal laws, or take measures to protect civil rights. It can also authorize the federal Armed Forces to carry out similar duties.
Does Texas Have a Pro-Independence Streak?
Seceding from Mexico in 1836 to form the Republic of Texas before joining the United States in 1846, the Lone Star State’s residents have a powerful independent streak. Polling on support for independence is not conducted regularly, for obvious reasons, but according to a 2012 Rasmussen poll, 31 percent of Texans said the state has the right to secede, and 18 percent said they would support secession. This number rose to 39 percent Among Republicans, with 16 percent of Democrats supporting the idea, according to separate polling by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune in 2020.
“In Texas, we’re essentially on our own, enforcing our own measures to protect our border, as the federal government seems preoccupied with other issues,” Texas-based international geopolitical consultant and author Dr. David Oualaalou told Sputnik earlier this week, addressing the escalating crisis between Austin and Washington.
“Living in Texas, I witness the chaos at our southern border daily. It’s bewildering to see our government fixate on foreign territories while our own borders remain perilously open,” he added, emphasizing that “the Biden administration’s emphasis on Ukraine’s territorial integrity starkly contrasts with the neglected state of our own borders.”