Texas to Use 'Every Available Strategy' to Repel Migrants Crossing Border, Says Governor

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state police and military forces to use “every available strategy” to repel migrants illegally crossing the border. The governor also ordered protection from “an invasion of the southern border.”

“Until Congress acts or the Biden Administration does its constitutionally required job, Texas Guardsmen and Troopers must bear the burden of securing the border,” Abbott wrote in a letter to the commanders of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department. “You must continue to keep Texans and Americans safe and protect against an invasion of the southern border. I order you to use all resources and tools available to repel immigrants from attempting to cross illegally, arrest those who cross illegally and return them to the border, and arrest criminals who violate Texas law.”

The governor called on the agencies involved in Operation Lone Star, the state’s border security and illegal immigration initiative, “defend Texas against what amounts to an invasion of America’s southern border,” a statement from the Office of the Texas Governor reads.

“Amid the Biden Administration’s ongoing failure to secure the border, DPS troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers, through Operation Lone Star, have repelled and turned back historic numbers of immigrants trying to cross the border illegally, arrested dangerous transnational criminals and criminal trespassers, and seized enough deadly fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in the nation,” the governor’s office stated.

Abbott also wrote a letter to Texas county judges explaining his recent executive order when invoked the invasion clauses of the U.S. and Texas Constitutions.

“Just two years ago, we had the fewest illegal crossings in decades,” Abbott wrote. “This past year under President Biden, an all-time record was set for the number of immigrants crossing the border illegally.”

“In my Executive Order GA-41, I invoked the Invasion Clauses of Article I, § 10 of the U.S. Constitution and Article IV, § 7 of the Texas Constitution to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to fight back against the invasion at our border,” he added.

The governor’s order calls for additional resources for counties “to increase their efforts to respond to the border invasion.”

In a letter to DPS Director, Colonel Steve McCraw and Texas Military Department Adjutant General, Major General Thomas M. Suelzer, the Texas governor wrote:

You have an essential assignment: Use every available tool and strategy to fight back against the unprecedented invasion that Texas is seeing at our border. Until Congress acts or the Biden Administration does its constitutionally required job, Texas Guardsmen and Troopers must bear the burden of securing the border. You must continue to keep Texans and Americans safe and protect against an invasion of the southern border. I order you to use all resources and tools available to repel immigrants from attempting to cross illegally, arrest those who cross illegally and return them to the border, and arrest criminals who violate Texas law.

Abbott also called on Congress to pass legislation to protect Texas law enforcement officers and National Guard soldiers and airmen from federal criminal prosecution “for protecting Texas against illegal entry between the ports of entry.”

Finally, Governor Abbott called upon Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other “federal officials who have not faithfully executed the nation’s immigration laws.”