Governor Greg Abbott today, Wednesday, November 16, 2022, ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Texas Military Department (TMD) to expand their unprecedented efforts to combat the growing illegal immigration along the Texas-Mexico border. In a letter to DPS Director Steve McCraw and TMD Adjutant General Thomas Suelzer, the Governor outlined the need for the Operation Lone Star partners to defend Texas against what amounts to an invasion of America’s southern border. Amid the Biden Administration’s ongoing failure to secure the border, DPS troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers, through Operation Lone Star, have repelled and turned back historic numbers of immigrants trying to cross the border illegally, arrested dangerous transnational criminals and criminal trespassers, and seized enough deadly fentanyl to kill every man, woman, and child in the nation.
“Until Congress acts or the Biden Administration does its constitutionally required job, Texas Guardsmen and Troopers must bear the burden of securing the border,” reads the letter. “You must continue to keep Texans and Americans safe and protect against an invasion of the southern border. I order you to use all resources and tools available to repel immigrants from attempting to cross illegally, arrest those who cross illegally and return them to the border, and arrest criminals who violate Texas law.”
On Monday, the Governor sent a letter to county judges in Texas explaining his Executive Order that invokes the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. and Texas Constitutions to fully authorize the unprecedented actions Texas is taking to secure the border amid an all-time record for illegal immigration, including devoting more than $4 billion toward border security and enhanced public safety measures. As Governor of Texas and commander-in-chief of its military forces, Governor Abbott has used constitutional authority, other authorization, and Executive Orders for historic actions such as building a border wall in multiple counties along the border, designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and repelling immigrants seeking to enter illegally.
Monday’s letter to Texas county judges also calls for Congress to reimburse the State of Texas for the billions of dollars used to keep Texans safe amid the Biden Administration’s refusal to do so, as well as for hearings and possible impeachment for federal officials who have not faithfully executed the nation’s immigration laws. The letter also urges Congress to go beyond Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution and specifically amend federal law to clarify that Texas troopers and soldiers are shielded from legal attack simply for protecting Texas against illegal entry between ports of entry.
Read Governor Abbott’s letter to Director McCraw and Maj. Gen. Suelzer.
Dear Colonel McCraw and General Suelzer:
Since the launch of Operation Lone Star in March 2021, the Texas Department of Public Safety
(DPS) and the Texas National Guard have been given the enormous task of securing our Texas
border. Over the course of the last year and a half, I authorized Texas Guardsmen and Troopers
to repel and turn-back immigrants trying to cross the border illegally; arrest and return to the
border immigrants who have crossed illegally; and arrest criminal trespassers and those violating
Texas law. The number of drug traffickers and human traffickers you have arrested is
astonishing. The wave of fentanyl and criminals you have stopped from entering the United
States by way of the border is shocking. I thank you for the unprecedented work your
Guardsmen and Troopers have done on Operation Lone Star. This work must continue and now
be expanded upon.
As you know, these efforts have been required of Texas because President Biden has abandoned
his responsibility to enforce immigration laws, and Congress has refused to hold the President
accountable and has abandoned its own responsibility to use the immigration power given to it in
Article I, § 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Attached are copies of a letter I sent to several Texas county leaders detailing the actions we
have taken to secure the border. This includes my Executive Order GA-41, in which I invoked
the Invasion Clauses of Article I, § 10 of the U.S. Constitution and Article IV, § 7 of the Texas
Constitution to fully authorize Texas to take unprecedented measures to fight back against theinvasion at our border. As Governor of Texas and commander-in-chief of its military forces, I
am using that Constitutional authority, as well as other authorization and Executive Orders to:
• Deploy the National Guard to safeguard our border and to repel and turn-back
immigrants trying to cross the border illegally;
• Deploy DPS to arrest and return to the border
immigrants who crossed illegally and deploy DPS to arrest illegal immigrants for
criminal activity;
• Build a border wall in multiple counties on the border;
• Deploy gun boats to secure the border;
• Designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations;
• Enter into a compact with other states to secure the border;
• Enter into agreements with foreign powers to enhance border security; and
• Provide resources for border counties to increase their efforts to respond to the border
invasion.
I am also asking counties to join me in sending urgent messages to Congress reminding them that
it is the federal government’s responsibility to secure the border and to provide resources to do
so. Congress should amend statutes like 18 U.S.C. § 242 to ensure that our Troopers and
Guardsmen are not exposed to federal criminal prosecution for protecting Texas against illegal
entry between the ports of entry.
You have an essential assignment: Use every available tool and strategy to fight back against the
unprecedented invasion that Texas is seeing at our border. Until Congress acts or the Biden
Administration does its constitutionally required job, Texas Guardsmen and Troopers must bear
the burden of securing the border. You must continue to keep Texans and Americans safe and
protect against an invasion of the southern border. I order you to use all resources and tools
available to repel immigrants from attempting to cross illegally, arrest those who cross illegally
and return them to the border, and arrest criminals who violate Texas law.
Governor Abbott has taken unprecedented action to secure the border in the wake of the federal government’s inaction, including:
- Securing $4 billion in funding for Texas’ border security efforts
- Launching Operation Lone Star and deploying thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers
- Taking aggressive action to aid border communities, including busing thousands of migrants to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia
- Arresting and jailing criminals trespassing or committing other state crimes along the southern border
- Issuing an executive order authorizing the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to return illegal immigrants to the border at ports of entry
- Allocating resources to acquire 1,700 unused steel panels to build the border wall in Texas
- Signing a law to make it easier to prosecute smugglers bringing people into Texas
- Signing 15 laws cracking down on human trafficking in Texas
- Signing a law enhancing penalties for the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl
- Issuing a disaster declaration for the border crisis
- Issuing an executive order preventing non-governmental entities from transporting illegal immigrants
- Signing memoranda of understanding between the State of Texas and the States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to enhance border security measures in their states that will prevent illegal immigration from Mexico to Texas
- Activating the Joint Border Security Operations Center (JBSOC) and directing the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Military Department, and Texas Division of Emergency Management to coordinate Texas’ response to secure the border
- Creating DPS vehicle inspection checkpoints targeting semi-trucks and other commercial motor vehicles that cross the border and potentially pose a danger on our roads.
