Is Biden’s Open Border Unconstitutional?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns who has the responsibility to defend America from invasions. Article IV, Section 4 states: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence” (emphasis added).  The central part of this clause tells us that the federal government has the constitutional responsibility to protect the States from invasion, or to control who enters America.

The Biden administration has failed for three years to protect Americans from invaders of America as they opened the nation’s borders and invited the world into the United States. Simon Hankinson wrote the following information in an article published in The Daily Signal. 

In just three short years, President Joe Biden’s reckless policies have destroyed the integrity of our borders. But perhaps the worst thing he has done is to devalue legal immigration and United States residence – even citizenship – pricing it at a one-way ticket from Africa or Asia to Latin America, plus smugglers’ fees to the U.S. border.

By allowing unlimited foreign nationals to enter the country without a visa, Biden has incentivized mass illegal migration. In addition, U.S. states and cities, under a misguided “sanctuary” ideology, are compounding this folly by giving out free health care, housing, and other benefits that should be reserved for American citizens and legal residents.

When I came to America at age 7, I recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day in grade school. I learned the national anthem, U.S. history, and how the Constitution guarantees our free society. Even as a child, I knew that the United States was special because we were united not by race or land or history, but by adherence to an agreed upon set of values.

For generations, Americans have been willing to take up arms and to send their children to fight for those values against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

First-generation immigrants understand “what an extraordinary and enviable privilege it remains to be able to call yourself an American,” as recently-naturalized American Gerard Baker wrote in The Wall Street Journal. But Baker also said that “[i]n recent years, the far Left’s disparagement of their country has gone from a fringe pursuit to a disturbingly dominant orthodoxy, especially among the young.”

Hankinson has much more information to ponder, and I urge you to link to his article here. Since the Biden administration refuses to shut down the border, the States are working overtime to protect their residents with Texas being on the front lines. 

Eagle Pass, Texas, is one of the towns that have withstood the worst of the invasion, and Governor Greg Abbott has been fighting the federal government for years. Texas put a barrier down the middle of the river, the federal government took Texas to court to force its removal. When Texas put razor wire along the shore, the federal government ordered Border Patrol to cut the wire and allow the immigrants through.

Now Texas has taken stronger action. James Farrow wrote the following: 

The Texas National Guard seized control of a part in Eagle Pass, Texas, this week and is denying access to Border Patrol agents as the state continues to try and wrestle border enforcement away from the Biden Administration, whose immigration policies have been a frequent target of Gov. Greg Abbott.

On Thursday, Rolando Salinas, mayor of Eagle Passs, shared a video outside Shelby Park of vehicles parked behind a fence, claiming that state officials had seized control of the park for border control operations – but Salinas alleged that the city did not agree to the seizure, claiming: “This is not something that we wanted, this is not something that we asked for as a city.”

In a statement to CBS News, a Texas Military Department spokesman said that the Guard has maintained a presence with security points at the park since 2021, but that they’re preparing “for future illegal immigrant surges and to restrict access to organizations that perpetuate illegal immigrant crossings” in Eagle Pass area” (Forbes has also contacted the Texas Military Department for comment).

In a Friday filing with the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice alleged that Border Patrol agents had been denied access to the area, which includes a boat ramp that agents typically use to conduct operations along the Rio Grande, with gates and “armed personnel” blocking normal access points. The Department of Justice is asking the court to intervene, noting that the state’s actions since the government filing “demonstrate an escalation of the state’s measures to block” Border Patrol duties.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Abbott reposted a video of Shelby Park, writing that “as caravans of migrants are moving through Mexico toward the border, we are making clear that Texas will be a tough place to cross.”

We have a constitutional crisis when States start fighting against the federal government. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will take this case and issue a quick decision. Even more important, we hope that the Supreme Court can move America to closing the border.