Bill Text: TX SCR23 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Urging the federal government to declare foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-28 - Referred to State Affairs [SCR23 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SCR23-Engrossed.html
By: Kolkhorst | S.C.R. No. 23 |
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WHEREAS, The State of Texas and the United States federal | ||
government have 1,254 miles of land to protect along Texas' border | ||
with Mexico, a job that has become increasingly violent as this | ||
state has been subjected 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 acted 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 other | ||
weapons, all related to the invasion of foreign 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 and authority for border patrol agents and | ||
other federal personnel; 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 federal government's failure to develop a | ||
comprehensive plan to address this border security problem puts an | ||
unfair and unreasonable burden on the entire state, especially on | ||
Texas border communities, in violation of Article IV, Section 4 of | ||
the United States Constitution; and | ||
WHEREAS, Under Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 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 imminent 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, Clause 3 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. |