Art. 1, Sec. 10: Invasion & Our Right to a Secure Border

“We are being invaded. It is an invasion, and it has been an invasion. And the federal government is doing absolutely nothing to help except welcome these individuals with open arms.”

Our southern border is being invaded by illegal aliens from all over the world via Mexico. Over 7,500¹ illegal aliens were apprehended per day in May. That’s up from 4,700² per day in January. With 238,862³ total encounters in July 2022 alone, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the situation at the border is reaching a boiling point. So far in this fiscal year to date, over 2.2 million⁴ illegal aliens have been encountered by law enforcement (not including getaways). A new NPR poll finds that a majority of Americans believe that there is an invasion taking place at our southern border. “More than half of Americans say there’s an “invasion” at the southern border, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll, part of a broader decline in support for immigrants overall.”⁵

However, NPR and others want to attribute this to a false narrative coming from the Republican party. “Republican leaders are increasingly framing the situation as an “invasion.” Immigrant advocates say the word has a long history in white nationalist circles, and warn that such extreme rhetoric could provoke more violence against immigrants.”⁶

More than half of Americans, regardless of party, say that we are being invaded and over 4,500 immigrants cross per day, then what is it? Call a spade, a spade—we are being invaded. According to a Texas rancher, Stephanie Crisp-Canales told Fox News: “We are being invaded. It is an invasion, and it has been an invasion.”⁷

Senator Joni Ernst recently took a trip down to the border and described how horrible the situation really is: “We heard of what they call ‘rape trees,’ where there are areas where the cartel smugglers will take the women and girls and, well, rape them under a tree and then take their undergarments and throw them up into the tree and hang them from the branches.”⁸ Drugs are pouring into our country, women and children are being forced into sex trafficking, and cartel aliens with violent criminal histories are being allowed to freely roam our cities. “These violent and murderous cartels earn millions of dollars each day trafficking humans and drugs into the United States, driving an increase in crime and death.”⁹ We must defend our country from the invasion and secure our border!

We have the right to secure our border between Texas and Mexico. Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, provides states with the authority to defend themselves against invasion.

“No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”

Using Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, our Governor can declare an invasion and secure the border, without employing help from the federal government. “Furthermore, as the Arizona AG opinion explores in great depth, the presence of large-scale, stateless transnational criminal organizations (“TCOs”) operating along the U.S. southern border to facilitate the current invasion provides a strong substantive justification for the invocation of Article I authority to repel that invasion.”¹⁰ James Madison thought this clause could apply to criminal smugglers. “Virginia using its militia to stop smugglers as an example of a valid exercise of the invasion power.”¹¹

We are experiencing a full blown invasion at our southern border. It must be stopped so we can evaluate the damage and map out a road to recovery. The fate of our nation depends on it.