Bill Text: TX SCR3 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging the federal government to immediately declare violent foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and encouraging the Texas Military Department and all state resources to use authority under Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution to repel this violent foreign drug cartel-facilitated invasion in the least lethal manner possible consistent with bringing this facilitated invasion to a conclusion at the earliest possible moment.
Sponsorship: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 18-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-09 - Filed [SCR3 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-SCR3-Introduced.html
| 87S20005 KSM-F | ||
| By: Perry, et al. | S.C.R. No. 3 | |
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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 a foreign drug | ||
| cartel-facilitated invasion; 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, In fiscal year 2021, U.S. Customs and Border | ||
| Protection reports over 200,000 pounds of illegal narcotics have | ||
| been seized from foreign drug cartels in Texas; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Specifically, federal seizures of fentanyl in Texas | ||
| have dramatically increased by more than 950 percent this fiscal | ||
| year; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Border Patrol has | ||
| already arrested more than 7,800 noncitizens that were determined | ||
| to have prior criminal records; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The Office of the Texas Attorney General estimates | ||
| that there are 234,000 victims of labor trafficking and 79,000 | ||
| victims of youth and minor sex trafficking at any given time in | ||
| Texas; 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 foreign drug cartel-facilitated invasion; 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 thousands of 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 unwillingness 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, The federal government has failed to protect the | ||
| State of Texas from this foreign drug cartel-facilitated invasion | ||
| as required by Article IV, Section 4 of the United States | ||
| Constitution; 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-facilitated invasion, which 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"; now, | ||
| therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas, | ||
| 2nd Called Session, hereby respectfully request 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 foreign | ||
| drug cartels have facilitated an invasion of the State of Texas and | ||
| that the citizens of this state are in danger of irreparable harm; | ||
| and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby encourage the | ||
| Texas Military Department and all applicable state 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-facilitated invasion, and that such authority should be | ||
| invoked as the authorization for use of military force with the | ||
| intention of utilizing such authority in the least lethal manner | ||
| possible consistent with bringing this facilitated invasion to a | ||
| conclusion at the earliest possible moment. | ||
