Florida and 25 states tell U.S. government to get out of Texas’ way, or enforce border laws

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody joined 25 other state attorneys general in demanding the U.S. government either support existing border security laws, or get out Texan efforts to secure it themselves.

“What you should do is simple: enforce the law and protect the border,” the letter said. “And despite some recent suggestions that you should nationalize control of the Texas National Guard as a ruse, we would like to remind you that you cannot do so without legal authority that you currently lack.”

“If you cannot bring yourselves to enforce the law, get out of the way so Texas can,” it said.

“Texas is fighting for the sovereignty of their state and this nation,” Moody said on Monday.

The letter comes a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas must still allow federal agents access to the border, allowing the government to strip away barriers being erected by Texas officials.

It delves into legal arguments for why Texas is in its right to declare an “invasion” and invoke self defense powers, pointing to Article I, section 10, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

“Millions of people illegally coming into Texas as part of a coordinated assault on our border is an invasion,” it said. “No state, not even Texas, can handle such an influx of people.”

Operation Lone Star is the name for Texas’ efforts to protect its border from being overran by migrants from the south.

“Texas sent manpower to the southern border and built physical barriers to prevent some of the millions of illegal crossings,” the letter said. “Some of these barriers are made with concertina wire, placed on Texas landowners’ land with their permission. In some places with the wire, illegal border crossings dropped by more than two-thirds. Texas often placed this wire in collaboration with Border Patrol itself.”

The state officials wrote that even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the federal government’s favor on simply accessing the border and removing barriers, the court did not order Texas stop “repairing or replacing the wire.”

“The federal government should be working to stop this crisis, but it is not,” the letter said. “And the Constitution’s Guarantee Clause requires that the federal government do so.”

The following states signed onto the letter: Iowa, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and legislative leadership of Arizona.

Noting that most of the states joining onto the letter are not “border states,” the letter stated that migrants are spreading out nationwide and taking advantage of the country’s infrastructure.

“Once in the country, many illegal immigrants become part of a system that undermines worker protections,” it said.

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With Texas engaging in a legal standoff with the federal government over arguments the U.S. isn’t guarding the country from “invasion,” other Florida officials like Gov. Ron DeSantis have voiced support for Texas.

“I think that what’s happening in Texas is not just a Texas issue, it’s an American issue,” DeSantis said. “And you have a situation where you’ve had over 8 million people pour into this country illegally just in the last three years.”

The governor announced last week his support for a proposal in the Florida Legislature that would allow the Florida State Guard be sent to other states, like Texas. The guard is distinct from the National Guard in that it is solely controlled by the Florida governor.

“A lot of the people, anyone that wants to do us harm will look at that border as the easiest, softest underbelly this country has right now,” DeSantis said.

The bill, HB 1551 by Rep. Mike Giallombardo, R-Cape Coral, would allow the Florida State Guard to operate outside state lines if other states enter an agreement permitting it.