Texas Deploys War Logic About Border: Invasion Clause Explained

Texas officials’ belief they have the authority to employ their own immigration solutions at the Mexican border hinges on a previously failed argument that migrants are invading the state and the federal government has abandoned its duty to stop them.

The US Constitution grants authority to states to defend themselves when “actually invaded” and when the threat is so imminent they don’t have time to wait on congressional approval.

However, in the 1990s three different appeals courts rejected claims that a surge in migrants equals an invasion as the framers intended. Now, some 30 years later, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ...