‘We Want People to Come Here Legally’: Texas’s Border Stand Promotes Migrants’ Safety, Experts Say

Approximately 10 million illegal immigrants, which is larger than the individual populations of 41 states, have crossed the southern border under the Biden administration. In September, to the irritation of Democrats, Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) declared the mass migration “an invasion as defined by the U.S. Constitution.” He added that each state has a right to secure their own borders, and “Congress must recognize” that. And Marshall is not alone in his sentiments.

Texas Land Commissioner Dr. Dawn Buckingham said on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Thursday that “[Americans] are being hurt by Biden’s decisions every single day,” arguing that the border crisis stands as yet another example. Echoing the statement Marshall made in September, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has taken matters into his own hands by setting up razor wire along his state’s border.

“The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” Abbott wrote in a statement. “I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. … The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”

Abbott’s decision has received pushback from the Biden administration, but it’s also enjoyed overwhelming support from multiple states across America. Leaders are praising Texas for taking a stand, and Buckingham emphasized it’s unlikely we’re “going to see anyone in Texas backing down.” She added, “[S]ince the federal government and the Biden administration is completely abdicating its responsibility to defend, to protect our border, then we’re just” doing “what we have to do.”

Buckingham explained that blocking off the southern border of Texas is in the best interest of everyone — including the migrants. She said the park that’s now flooded with migrants “happens to be where the local golf team practices every day,” which poses a risk for the local citizens. Additionally, the river they have to cross is unsafe because “the risk of drowning is very high.” Ultimately, she emphasized, “We want to take this off of the path of our migrants. And so, we’re going to reinforce it with the wire” — even though the federal government is trying to block Texas from doing so.

Since Texas is motivated to keep its people safe, “[W]e’re going to continue to fight,” Buckingham added. In addition to safety, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins highlighted the financial and practical burden this crisis is causing. For the illegal immigrants coming in, Buckingham discussed how court dates are scheduled six years into the future. In the meantime, they’re given access to Medicaid benefits and they’re overwhelming health care systems and schools. And many states are forced to use taxpayer money to support those who entered the country illegally.

She continued, “[T]hese are not just free people coming to a better life.” As far as Buckingham is concerned, the larger issue is that many migrants “are completely enslaved by the cartels and the most violent gangs in our country. And they are basically beholden to sell drugs, sell their bodies, [and] do terrible things.” She defined it as “the largest expansion of slavery that this world has ever seen,” and urged that “we … shouldn’t be standing for it.”

Perkins added, “[T]he logical conclusion would be that this … is being facilitated by the policies of the Biden administration by refusing to enforce the law, not only [to] protect the Texas citizens … but also the migrants that are coming to this country.”

Illegal immigration is a top priority among voters even as far from the southern border as New Hampshire, so “even people in the northeast are understanding and seeing what a problem this is and the consequences of it,” Buckingham pointed out. “We want legal immigration. We are a country of immigrants ourselves,” she said. And Perkins added that we want them to “be assimilated into the American society the right way.”

Buckingham agreed. “[W]e … have a system of immigration. It could use some improvements, but we want people to come here legally and have access to the American dream.”