With Congress and the White House butting heads on border security, a group of conservatives is pushing for Texas to break the deadlock by enacting an unprecedented new state-level enforcement regimen, including a first-ever state border patrol.
The conservatives are set to rally in Austin this weekend to add some political muscle to the effort, hoping to stiffen spines in the state legislature and in the governor’s mansion, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott must decide whether to back the aggressive approach.
“No other state’s ever done this before,” said Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States, who is overseeing the affair.
The rally is being called the “How Many More” rally. That’s a reference to the growing death toll from the border chaos, including migrants who are robbed, raped or killed in the attempt to make it across the border, and Americans struck down by fentanyl trafficked in from Mexico.
“None, zero, is the right number,” Mr. Meckler said.
Republicans on Capitol Hill say they agree. They are pushing legislation that would revoke President Biden’s more lenient border policies, restart border wall construction and try to alter the incentives that are drawing record numbers of people to jump the border.
SEE ALSO: House Homeland Security Committee introduces bill to restart border wall
Mr. Biden and his team, meanwhile, blame former President Trump, world conditions and cartels for the chaos and insist their hands are largely tied.
That leaves the government gridlocked, and that’s why conservatives are turning to the states to force the issue.
The Texas legislature is debating House Bill 20, which would allow the state to create a new border protection force deputized to repel illegal border crossers. It also would authorize construction of a border wall and would elevate the crime of trespassing while jumping the border to a third-degree felony, allowing the state to deliver severe consequences to those it chooses to prosecute.
Another bill, HB7, would create a court system for hearing border cases.
Underlying the legislation is a debate over whether the country is facing an invasion as envisioned in the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Section 10 prohibits states from raising troops “unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
Some conservatives have argued that the flow of people across the southern border constitutes an invasion and justifies Texas actively working to “repel” the illegal newcomers. The theory has been heatedly debated, with critics questioning both the legal reasoning and the accuracy of the word as applied to the border situation.
SEE ALSO: Millions set aside for border wall headed for Mayorkas waste bin
Polls show most Americans do believe the border situation is an “invasion.” For his part, Mr. Abbott has used invasion rhetoric but has yet to explicitly trigger the constitutional powers.
Mr. Meckler said Mr. Abbott has done a lot already on the border — more than any other governor — but could do much more.
“I’m not looking to criticize him, I’m looking to have him be a hero,” Mr. Meckler said.
Mr. Abbott’s office didn’t respond to an inquiry for this article.
Immigrant rights advocates have lined up against the two bills.
Human Rights Watch labeled them “dangerous and extreme” and said the result would be a “state-sponsored vigilante” unit patrolling the border.
And a broad coalition of immigration groups warned that Texas residents could face racial profiling and the number of dangerous high-speed chases could soar as the border force tries to carry out its duties.
“HB 20 would be an open call for vigilante groups to go to Texas to harm and harass asylum seekers and Texas residents,” the groups warned in a letter to the legislature opposing the two bills.
Among those slated to speak at the rally are rock star and conservative personality Ted Nugent, television journalist Lara Logan and former acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan.
Mr. Morgan said his goal is to bring awareness of how the levels of fentanyl, criminal migrants and terrorism suspects crossing the border affect people throughout the country.
“Hopefully people will understand why border security matters,” he said.
What Texas’s border protection unit would look like remains to be seen.
State budget analysts said there are still myriad questions, such as how many officers the force would hire and where it would be housed. The costs are assumed to be “significant,” the legislative analysis said.
Mr. Abbott has already deployed the state’s National Guard and Department of Public Safety to the border to make arrests where they can.
That raises questions of what more the proposed border force could do.
Mr. Meckler said he wants to see the new force actively “repel” illegal immigrants.
“I think it means actually taking people and, in the Rio Grande, pushing them back across the river to the other side of the border,” he said.
Mr. Meckler said if Texas does enact the two bills, it would create a conflict with the Biden administration, which, while taking a relaxed approach to the border, has resisted attempts by others to fill the gap.
“What we’re going to see is something that I think is the most important fight in the United States of America, which is a jurisdictional fight between the federal government and the state government,” he said. “This is the fight we should be having.”
