Bill Text: TX HCR79 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging the federal government to declare foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-13 - Referred to State Affairs [HCR79 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HCR79-Introduced.html
| 88R8190 TBO-F | ||
| By: Dorazio | H.C.R. No. 79 | |
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| 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. | ||
