DeSantis: Founders wouldn’t agree that the U.S. can force a state to allow ‘invasion’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In response to the ongoing legal conflict between the U.S. government and Texas on the southern border over an “invasion” by migrants, Gov. Ron DeSantis noted his solidarity with the Lone Star State.
DeSantis released a video discussing the situation and his opinion that James Madison and the American founders would not agree that the U.S. government can force a state to “allow an invasion.”
“They have every right to fortify the border, vis-a-vis an invasion. That’s Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution,” he said. “They’re in the right.”
The governor cited Madison’s Federalist Paper 46 noting how states can repel “federal encroachment.”
“If the Constitution really made states powerless to defend themselves against an invasion, it wouldn’t have been ratified in the first place and Texas would have never joined the union when it did,” he said.
Texas joined the U.S. in December 1845, which was its own country prior and had fended off Mexican forces.
“TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it,” he said. “FL will keep assisting Texas with personnel and assets.”
DeSantis first sent personnel and resources to Texas in 2021, and has only sent more through the present day.
“We are witnessing a catastrophe at the southern border under the Biden Administration. In recent months, we have seen people from the terrorist watch list, known sex offenders and a flood of fentanyl cross over the border,” the governor said almost three years ago. “This is a national security crisis, and we must get it under control.”
Other governors have also come out in support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbot’s efforts to utilize the National Guard to secure the border, including Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin, Oklahoma’s Kevin Stitt and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem.
The legal battle has been ramping up over whether Texas can enforce immigration law when the federal government is not. The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled 5-4 against Texas efforts to put up wire barriers on the American side of the Rio Grande, which borders Mexico.
“The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” said Texas Attorney General Paxton. “The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe. This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
