Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined a coalition of 24 conservative states in an effort to overturn a recent U.S. Supreme Court order on border control.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ordered Texas to allow federal border agents access to the state’s border with Mexico. The order allows Border Patrol agents to cut through razor wire installed along that border, vacating a previous injunction from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It also falls in line with past Supreme Court rulings, which have repeatedly reaffirmed that, according to the Constitution, border control and immigration law falls under the authority of the federal government.
In response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he would order the Texas National Guard to install more razor wire in the hopes of deterring asylum-seekers from crossing the border illegally. Since then, several Republican governors — including Gov. Bill Lee — have sent National Guard troops to the border to support Abbott’s efforts.
Now, this new coalition has gone back to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to file an amicus brief, which argues that the federal government has not fulfilled its responsibility to protect the nation’s southern border, giving Texas authorities the right to install any barriers — including razor wire — they feel are necessary. The attorneys general also argue that, by installing these barriers, Texas is defending interior states as well.
“The federal government has abdicated its responsibility,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “The Constitution is not a suicide pact, and the states have a right and an obligation to engage in self-defense.”
The use of the phrase “self-defense” is key, because the U.S. Constitution does give states the right to defend themselves in the event of an invasion. However, most legal experts agree that immigrants — including undocumented immigrants — do not legally qualify as “invaders.”
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Skrmetti’s statement is rooted in an interpretation of the Constitution called “compact theory,” which is the idea that the Constitution is a compact between states, and therefore, states can opt out of certain federal laws. This interpretation has been repeatedly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 24-state coalition is led by Kansas, and also includes Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Virginia.
Multiple migrants, including a mother and her two children, have died while attempting to cross the border near Eagle Pass, Texas, with border patrol agents unable to reach them because of barriers erected by state authorities. Many more have been badly injured by razor wire.
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