A coalition of 26 Republican attorneys general and two Arizona state lawmakers are backing Texas’s constitutional right to “defend against invasion,” as the Lone Star State persists in fighting the Biden administration over the southern border.
The border battle came to a head last week after the Supreme Court issued a temporary order allowing Border Patrol agents to cut the concertina-wire barriers that Texas installed along the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigration. While the federal government’s case against Texas remains ongoing, the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, declared an “invasion” under Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives each state the authority to defend itself if “actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger.”
In a letter dated Monday, January 29, the 28 GOP officials told President Joe Biden and the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, that all 50 states “have an independent duty to defend against invasion” if the executive branch is not enforcing immigration law.
The letter, led by attorneys general Brenna Bird of Iowa and Sean Reyes of Utah, also states that Texas’s refusal to remove the concertina wire and the state’s additional construction of razor wire do not violate or defy the Supreme Court’s order.
“As lawyers yourselves, you must know that reports that Texas is ignoring or ‘defying’ the Supreme Court are wrong, either misunderstanding or deliberately misstating the law,” the letter reads.
“The Supreme Court’s order did not tell Texas that it could or could not do anything,” it adds. “Texas should be applauded for continuing to try to protect the border despite the federal government now, again, being able to try to destroy the barriers Texas builds.”
In the past week, Texas officials doubled down on its commitment to securing the border by installing new concertina wire and anti-climb fences along Shelby Park. Earlier this month, the Texas Military Department assumed control of the park, owned by the city of Eagle Pass, to prevent both illegal immigrants and Border Patrol from entering the area.
The correspondence cites the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in the 2012 Arizona v. United States ruling, which concluded that the federal government has the sole authority to implement immigration law. Under the decision, states cannot enforce immigration policies that are preempted by federal law. Scalia dissented from the majority opinion, writing that states have a “sovereign interest in protecting their borders.”
Bird, Reyes, and others charged Biden and Mayorkas to simply “enforce the law and protect the border” rather than impede Texas’s efforts to curtail illegal immigration. “If you cannot bring yourselves to enforce the law, get out of the way so Texas can,” they wrote forcefully.
In addition to Bird and Reyes, the remaining attorneys general who signed the letter include the following: Steve Marshall of Alabama, Treg Taylor of Alaska, Tim Griffin of Arkansas, Ashley Moody of Florida, Chris Carr of Georgia, Raúl Labrador of Idaho, Todd Rokita of Indiana, Kris Kobach of Kansas, Russell Coleman of Kentucky, Liz Murrill of Louisiana, Lynn Fitch of Mississippi, Andrew Bailey of Missouri, Austin Knudsen of Montana, Mike Hilgers of Nebraska, John Formella of New Hampshire, Drew Wrigley of North Dakota, Gentner Drummond of Oklahoma, Dave Yost of Ohio, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, Marty Jackley of South Dakota, Jonathan Skrmetti of Tennessee, Jason Miyares of Virginia, Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, and Bridget Hill of Wyoming.
Arizona state senate president Warren Petersen and Arizona state house speaker Ben Toma were additional signatories.
Shortly after Abbott pledged the state would defend and protect itself from a record surge of illegal immigrants last week, 25 other Republican governors signed a letter vowing to stand in solidarity with Texas. Those states included the following: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The only Republican governor that did not sign the statement was Phil Scott of Vermont.