Republican officials across the nation — and particularly in border states — have taken whatever steps possible to help stem the tide of illegal immigration that the Biden administration’s lax policies have allowed since 2021.
In Texas, one response to the situation included a formal declaration of an invasion by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Gov. Greg Abbott: "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." https://t.co/jcEmQULWOw pic.twitter.com/aIAJPdDVYu
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) November 15, 2022
During a speech following his re-election victory last year, he said: “Texans have demanded a more secure border. Where, and if, Congress falls short Texas must continue our unprecedented efforts to secure our border.”
That message has clearly resonated among judges and commissioners across the Lone Star State as nearly four dozen counties have similarly declared an invasion across the nation’s southern border.
Four counties — Frio, Karnes, La Salle, and Medina — recently added their names to the growing list.
Atascosa County Judge Weldon Cude has been working to convince his counterparts in other counties to make such declarations.
In 2021, his county became one of the first to assert that illegal immigration constituted a disaster. An invasion declaration followed the next year.
Cude has been in office since January and expressed confusion at the time over why so many Texas counties had not followed Atascosa County’s lead.
“Why wouldn’t you declare an invasion?” he asked. “If you have people from all over the world coming into your county by bus, plane, or smuggling people and drugs, why wouldn’t you declare an invasion?”
Marking the one-year anniversary of declaring an invasion earlier this month, Kinney, Goliad, and Terrell counties made their own call for counties to join the coalition. Frio, Karnes, La Salle, and Medina counties signed the same resolution, stating in part that “additional measures” are necessary “to secure the border, stop the invasion at the border, and protect our communities.”
The resolution also provides support for Abbott, whom it says used the “legal authority vested by the Texas Constitution to secure the border.”
Cade agreed, insisting that Texas counties “are in a crisis,” adding: “We absolutely have a right to defend ourselves under the U.S. and Texas Constitution and will. And we 100% support Gov. Greg Abbott and Operation Lone Star.”
