Texas' illegal immigration: The razor thin margin of freedom

Almost 250 years ago, 13 separate colonies in North America, founded mostly by the British, made a pact together to form one unit. Instead of being colonies, they became states.

They joined together to form the United States. The federal government did not create the states. It was the reverse — the states united together to form these united states.

But today, we have a scenario where one state, Texas, is trying to protect itself from a type of invasion, while the federal government wants to hamper its efforts.

Ever since Joe Biden was sworn in, our borders have become quite porous. In three years, some eight million illegals have come across the borders.

One measure that Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently took was to install rolls of razor wire at a certain place on the border. But the Biden administration sued to be granted permission to cut that razor. And even the Supreme Court agreed (5-4) with Biden, not Abbott, last week.

In response to that court decision, Cal Thomas opines, “The obvious question, which the court did not address: why is the federal government not enforcing immigration laws which migrants are breaking to enter the country?”

Critics ask: Do the open borders in our nation in any way undermine the Constitution? Here’s how our governing document begins: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States.”

Are some of these lofty goals being hamstrung today as millions of illegal immigrants stream into the country without being processed?

“Well, it’s totally unconstitutional,” says Hon. Allen West, former U.S. Congressman, about this situation on a recent radio segment with me. 

He notes, “What you see happening down there is just unconscionable … They’re supposed to protect every state in the Union from an invasion. And that’s exactly what we have happening. You have the willful, the intentional, and the purposeful abdication of the Constitutional duty enumerated in Article IV, Section 4 by the Biden administration.”

For this piece, I asked for comments from several Constitutional scholars, including Dr. Matthew Spalding, vice president and dean of the D.C. campus of Hillsdale College. Spalding served as the executive editor of the massive 2005 book, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.

Spalding told me, “Under the Constitution, the federal government guarantees ‘to protect each of [the states] from Invasion’ at the same time that it restricts the states from doing things associated with self-defense ‘unless actually invaded.’ At what point does the sheer number of drugs, weapons, and criminals crossing an uncontrolled border — this can no longer be called merely immigration — amount to an invasion? The federal government may have plenary authority over immigration, but individual states have a duty to defend their citizens and property when the federal government abdicates its responsibility to protect those states.” 

What does the Constitution say? Article IV, Section 4 declares, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.”

I also asked for a comment from constitutional attorney, law professor, and author John Eidsmoe.

He told me that last week’s decision is “only a skirmish in a long court battle”: “The one-paragraph [Supreme Court] order simply said federal authorities could continue to cut wires set in place by Texas officials to prevent illegal immigration, until the case is finally resolved on its merits in the appeal from the District Court to the 5th Circuit, and, ultimately to the Supreme Court. This 5-4 order is far from the final word in the case.”

Think of the cost of the open borders: human trafficking, including sex trafficking of children, tens of thousands of Americans dying regularly from fentanyl overdoses, cities and towns overrun with more people than they can handle. And on it goes.

It boggles the mind that cities like New York City, Chicago, and Denver claim to be “sanctuary cities,” where they welcome one and all, including illegals. So, Gov. Abbott has been busing many illegals, with their permission, to these places. But now the cities are complaining because they’re being overrun. Ironically, so far they’re complaining against Abbott, not Biden. 

One man once warned us wisely against open borders: “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

Agreed. That was Barrack Obama in 2005. It’s scary to think that these days our freedom to secure the border is only razor thin.