Within Hours of Appeal, Supreme Court Stays Appellate Ruling on Texas Border Bill

It also argued, “Texas cannot run its own immigration system,” via SB 4, which “intrude[s] on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate[s] the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere[s] with U.S. foreign relations.”

Abbott has remained steadfast that Texas has the right to self-defense. S.B. 4’s goal is to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” Abbott said. It stipulates that repeat offenders who illegally reenter Texas can face a prison sentence of up to 20 years. It also gives law enforcement the authority to return illegal foreign nationals to a port of entry and/or arrest them for unlawful entry.

After the district court ruling, Abbott said, “we will not back down in our fight to protect our state – and our nation – from President Biden’s border crisis. The President of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including laws already on the books that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. Texas has the right to defend itself because of President Biden’s ongoing failure to fulfill his duty to protect our state from the invasion at our southern border. Even from the bench, this District Judge acknowledged that this case will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The Supreme Court had already intervened in one federal lawsuit over Texas’ concertina wire barriers, authorizing Border Patrol agents to destroy them as the case makes its way through the court system. Since then, Abbott has expanded fortifications, built a military base at the border, and received support from the Texas legislature and 25 Republican governors. Border Patrol agents also haven’t destroyed any Texas barriers.

In a recently published column, Abbott repeated an argument first made by former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in a legal opinion he issued on “invasion,” supporting state’s rights to self-defense. Brnovich pointed to James Madison who “cited Virginia using its militia to stop smugglers as an example of a valid exercise of the invasion power, and there is every basis to conclude this sovereign power was retained as reflected in the State Self-Defense Clause.”

Abbott argued, “Today, Texas faces a similar but starker threat than Virginia’s smugglers, with Mexican drug cartels that operate as paramilitary forces on our border.”

Abbott also cites Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution justifying Texas’ right to self-defense. Kinney, Terrell and Goliad counties first cited the clause in invasion declarations they passed on July 5, 2022. Since then, 53 counties have done so. Abbott’s reference to cartels as “paramilitary forces” was first used in Crockett and Shackelford counties’ invasion resolutions.

Abbott and 25 Republican governors argue the U.S. Constitution “is the supreme law of the land and would supersede any federal statutes to the contrary.” They will also “do the job that President Joe Biden has failed to do,” he said: continue to build barriers to deny illegal entry, arrest illegal foreign nationals, and “defend our state, and this nation, from grievous threats to our border.”

Bethany Blankley is a reporter at The Center Square. The article was originally published in The Center Square.