Do States Have the Right to Stop the Invasion?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns federalism. The Founding Fathers created a government with the Constitution that assigned certain duties to the federal government and all other duties to the States and the people. The States are sovereign governments.

When the Biden administration refused to secure the border, Texas Governor Greg Abbott decided to protect the residents of his state. One of the steps taken by Texas to secure the border between Texas and Mexico was to install razor wire along the border. The federal government sued Texas, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that the Border Patrol and other federal authorities could cut and remove the razor wire. Virginia Allen at The Daily Signal wrote the following in her article on this problem.

An appeals court had temporarily blocked the federal government from removing the razor wire while the state’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security moved forward. But the high court ordered that Texas must allow federal border authorities to remove the wire used to block illegal aliens while the case advances through lower courts.

Although the Supreme Court gave no reasons for its order, it noted that four conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh – opposed President Joe Biden’s position.

Two others, Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, joined the high court’s three liberal justices – Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson – in siding with the Biden administration in the dispute.

Former President Donal Trump and current presidential candidate called on “state governors to help Texas ‘repel the invasion’ of illegal immigrants along America’s southern border.” This article states that at least 16 Republican governors have “signaled their support for Texas Gov. Abbott in the standoff.” I have heard reports that about 24 States are standing with Texas.

The following state governors have sided with Texas: Virginia, Florida, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Georgia, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming, and West Virgina,

The States are acting to stop – or at least to slow – the invasion of illegal immigrants, and the federal government is working to stop the States. The federal government is fighting for more illegal immigrants to enter the United States.