by Allan Wall, Border Hawk, ©2022
(Nov. 19, 2022) — In the recent midterms, Governor Greg Abbott was re-elected in the beleaguered border state of Texas, defeating challenger Beto O’Rourke, 54.8% to 43.8%.
On November 15, a week after his re-election, Gov. Abbott tweeted, “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.”
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.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 15, 2022
I'm using that constitutional authority, & other authorization & Executive Orders to keep our state & country safe: pic.twitter.com/2Jt5HEMgp5
Abbott used the past tense because the actual declaration was made four months previous, on July 7, in Executive Order GA 41:
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, by virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, do hereby authorize and empower the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to respond to this illegal immigration by apprehending immigrants who cross the border between ports of entry or commit other violations of federal law, and to return those illegal immigrants to the border at a port of entry.”
Abbott’s aforementioned tweet includes a list of actions his administration is taking on the border: deploying the National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS), repelling illegal aliens or returning them to the border, building a border wall, deploying gun boats on the Rio Grande, designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, signing compacts with other states and foreign powers (Mexican border states), and allocating resources for counties on the border.
The governor of Texas has a number of security agencies under his authority, including the famed Texas Rangers, the Highway Patrol, the Texas State Guard, the Texas Air National Guard, and the Texas Army National Guard. (Full disclosure: I served in the Texas Army National Guard for a number of years.)
Further assistance can be obtained from municipal and county governments on the border.
Read the rest here.
Governor Abbott: A little word smithing is in order.
Change any and all instances of “illegal immigration” to “illegal invaders” and change any and all instances of “illegal immigrants” to “illegal aliens”, both in your EO_GA41 and any future statements or legislation concerning border security and safety.
Otherwise, I applaud your Constitutional rationale and actions.