| |
| |
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, The State of Texas and the United States federal |
|
|
government are charged with protecting 1,254 miles of land along |
|
|
Texas' border with Mexico, a job that has become increasingly |
|
|
violent as this state has succumbed to an invasion by foreign drug |
|
|
cartels; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, These foreign drug cartels bring terror to Texas |
|
|
communities by flooding the streets with deadly narcotics, forcing |
|
|
women and children into human and sex trafficking, enriching |
|
|
themselves on the misery and enslavement of Texans, and butchering |
|
|
and murdering anyone who tries to stop them; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, State and local law enforcement agencies are forced |
|
|
to contend with extensive and dangerous criminal activity resulting |
|
|
from, or associated with, foreign drug cartels, thereby putting |
|
|
Texas law enforcement officials in danger and draining resources |
|
|
away from protecting our communities; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The State of Texas has attempted to address the |
|
|
problem by adding hundreds of commissioned law enforcement officers |
|
|
to the border, purchasing state-of-the-art helicopters, conducting |
|
|
border security surge operations, and paying millions of dollars |
|
|
for overtime, training, equipment, and technology for local law |
|
|
enforcement; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Law enforcement agencies working together in Texas |
|
|
have seized billions of dollars in illegal drugs and hundreds of |
|
|
millions in cash, along with thousands of firearms, and weapons, |
|
|
all related to the invasion of drug cartels; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Texas has repeatedly asked the federal government to |
|
|
send more border security resources to the state, requesting an |
|
|
increase in manpower of border patrol agents and the deployment of |
|
|
National Guard troops; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Texas prisons house violent offenders that claim |
|
|
foreign citizenship, and the state bears the cost of housing and |
|
|
prosecuting those offenders; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Texas taxpayers have spent billions compensating |
|
|
for the lack of federal resources provided to the state; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The inability of the federal government to develop a |
|
|
comprehensive plan that would address this border security problem |
|
|
puts an unfair and unreasonable burden on the entire state, but in |
|
|
particular on Texas border communities; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Under Article I, Section 10 of the United States |
|
|
Constitution, Texas is entitled as a sovereign state of the United |
|
|
States of America to protect itself against this current foreign |
|
|
drug cartel invasion; this constitutional authority grants the |
|
|
State of Texas the power to defend the state when the state has been |
|
|
invaded, or is "in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay"; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The Governor, in a letter to the President of the |
|
|
United States on November 16, 2022, invoked the authority under |
|
|
Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, to protect |
|
|
the State of Texas; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby demand the federal government to immediately declare violent |
|
|
foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations under |
|
|
Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1189; |
|
|
and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby find that the |
|
|
State of Texas has been invaded by foreign drug cartels and that the |
|
|
citizens of this state are in danger of irreparable harm; and, be it |
|
|
further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby encourage all |
|
|
applicable state and local resources as needed, to use any and all |
|
|
authority under Article I, Section 10 of the United States |
|
|
Constitution to repel this violent foreign drug cartel invasion, |
|
|
and that such authority should be invoked with the intention of |
|
|
utilizing such authority in the most peaceful manner possible |
|
|
consistent with bringing this invasion to a conclusion at the |
|
|
earliest possible moment. |