President Biden’s refusal to enforce our southern border has wreaked havoc in Texas and it is spreading across the country. Texas has boldly taken matters into its own hands to protect its citizens. The conflict between Texas and the Federal government is coming to a head with the Supreme Court, at least initially, siding with the Biden administration. No one can predict exactly what will happen, but we are certainly heading toward a tipping point in American history.
Last week, 25 governors from around the country signed a statement of solidarity with Gov. Abbott and the state of Texas, supporting Texas’ right and duty to secure the southern border with Mexico. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything like this in American politics. Even the very moderate Gov. Chris Sununu from New Hampshire signed on to the letter.
According to the statement signed by the governors and issued jointly:
President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border. Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.
It is not just the states who are rising up to counter the lawless Biden administration, there are confirmed reports of vigilantes engaging (and more forming) to stop this invasion. This is not simply an isolated incident of federal misuse of power bringing the country to the verge of coming apart. This travesty at our border, pitting states against a seemingly united front of federal and judicial power, may very well be the spark that will fracture our nation. Or can we avert this calamity?
Thanks to the wisdom of our founders, who anticipated existential conflicts between Washington and the states, the answer lies in our Constitution. It may surprise some to learn that our founders believed in federalism and a system of checks and balances. That’s why in Article V of the Constitution they gave the states the ultimate authority to counter a tyrannical federal government.
Today, out of the 34 necessary states, 19 have passed an application for a convention of states under Article V to adopt amendments that would restrain the scope and power of the federal government. Under this application, an amendment could (and should) be proposed and ratified allowing the states joint jurisdiction over our international borders with respect to border crossings. The states should be specifically enabled to pass and enforce laws to prevent people from entering their state and the country illegally.
Under our Constitution, it is clear that the states don’t need to beg the federal government to protect their legitimate sovereign interests, like protecting the safety of their people. Article V of the Constitution gives the states the power to amend the Constitution to protect the people from both federal abuse or misuse of power without the permission or involvement of the President or Congress. If 15 more state legislatures would assert their authority, Texas could go from razor wire and court pleadings to giving themselves the power to protect their citizens.
The founders most feared an authoritarian central government, so they created a Constitution where the states, not the federal government, were at the top of the food chain. They also realized that such steps should not be taken on a whim or without broad consensus, so any amendment proposed at a convention of states would need to be ratified by 38 states to be added to the constitution.
With all due respect to the states supporting Texas, a letter complaining to the president when the states hold the right to correct this problem themselves, is being seen for what it is, weakness not strength. For decades, states have let the federal government run roughshod over them and their citizens. It should come as no surprise that the people are leading the charge and forcing state politicians to finally push back.
If all of those states were serious about the letter they signed they would act and fire a shot across the bow of the massive federal ship of state and immediately pass a resolution to begin the process of securing our borders and our freedoms, while striking a blow against our increasingly authoritarian federal government.
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Mark Meckler is the co-founder and President of Convention of States Action. @MarkMeckler
Rick Santorum is a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, two time Presidential candidate and a Senior Advisor to Convention of States Action. @RickSantorum
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.