Texas Governor Abbott Defies SCOTUS Border Ruling

Texas Governor Greg Abbot issued a statement Wednesday defying the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday concerning the state’s southern border with Mexico. Twenty-one Governors have since declared their support of Governor Abbott’s move.

SCOTUS ruled in a shocking 5-4 vote that the federal government has the authority to remove barriers placed along the border by the state of Texas meant to dissuade migrants from entering the United States illegally. The decision allows Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire deployed by the Texas National Guard as a part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) Operation Lone Star. In response, the Texas governor said that the fight “is not over” and that he would “hold the line” to defend Texans.

In today’s declaration, Abbot states, “…the invasion response supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.” “The Federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. “I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.”

Governor Abbot also refers to a series of letters, one of which was hand-delivered to the President by him, stating that “Biden has ignored Texas’s demand that he perform his constitutional duties.”

The Governor’s complete statement can be read here.

Since Monday’s SCOTUS ruling, Texas Border Patrol has resisted Federal attempts to take down the barbed-wire fencing as well as putting up additional reinforcements along one of the most trespassed areas, Eagle Pass.

.@TxDPS & @TXMilitary will continue to hold the line. #OperationLoneStar

01/24: TX National Guard reinforcing physical barriers along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass #ShelbyPark. https://t.co/apU3NuITvm pic.twitter.com/PkyIhxHE7L

— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) January 24, 2024