Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SR539 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	By: Perry, et al. S.R. No. 539
2	2
3	3
4	4	SENATE RESOLUTION
5	5	WHEREAS, The State of Texas and the United States federal
6	6	government are charged with protecting 1,254 miles of land along
7	7	Texas' border with Mexico, a job that has become increasingly
8	8	violent as this state has succumbed to an invasion by foreign
9	9	drug cartels; and
10	10	WHEREAS, These foreign drug cartels bring terror to Texas
11	11	communities by flooding the streets with deadly narcotics,
12	12	forcing women and children into human and sex trafficking,
13	13	enriching themselves on the misery and enslavement of Texans, and
14	14	butchering and murdering anyone who tries to stop them; and
15	15	WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border
16	16	Protection reports over 172,000 pounds of illegal narcotics have
17	17	been seized from foreign drug cartels in Texas; and
18	18	WHEREAS, Specifically, federal seizures of fentanyl in
19	19	Texas have dramatically increased by more then 750 percent this
20	20	fiscal year; and
21	21	WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Border Patrol has
22	22	already arrested more than 5,800 noncitizens that were
23	23	determined to have prior criminal records; and
24	24	WHEREAS, The Office of the Texas Attorney General
25	25	estimates that there are 234,000 victims of labor trafficking and
26	26	79,000 victims of youth and minor sex trafficking at any given
27	27	time in Texas; and
28	28	WHEREAS, State and local law enforcement agencies are
29	29	forced to contend with extensive and dangerous criminal activity
30	30	resulting from, or associated with, foreign drug cartels,
31	31	thereby putting Texas law enforcement officials in danger and
32	32	draining resources away from protecting our communities; and
33	33	WHEREAS, The State of Texas has attempted to address the
34	34	problem by adding hundreds of commissioned law enforcement
35	35	officers to the border, purchasing state-of-the-art helicopters,
36	36	conducting border security surge operations, and paying millions
37	37	of dollars for overtime, training, equipment, and technology for
38	38	local law enforcement; and
39	39	WHEREAS, Law enforcement agencies working together in
40	40	Texas have seized billions of dollars in illegal drugs and
41	41	hundreds of millions in cash, along with thousands of firearms,
42	42	and weapons, all related to the invasion of drug cartels; and
43	43	WHEREAS, Texas has repeatedly asked the federal government
44	44	to send more border security resources to the state, requesting
45	45	an increase in manpower of border patrol agents and the
46	46	deployment of National Guard troops; and
47	47	WHEREAS, Texas prisons house violent offenders that claim
48	48	foreign citizenship, and the state bears the cost of housing and
49	49	prosecuting those offenders; and
50	50	WHEREAS, Texas taxpayers have spent billions compensating
51	51	for the lack of federal resources provided to the state; and
52	52	WHEREAS, The inability of the federal government to
53	53	develop a comprehensive plan that would address this border
54	54	security problem puts an unfair and unreasonable burden on the
55	55	entire state, but in particular on Texas border communities; and
56	56	WHEREAS, Under Article I, Section 10 of the United States
57	57	Constitution, Texas is entitled as a sovereign state of the
58	58	United States of America to protect itself against this current
59	59	foreign drug cartel invasion, which grants the State of Texas the
60	60	power to defend the state when the state has been invaded, or is
61	61	"in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay"; now,
62	62	therefore, be it
63	63	RESOLVED, That the Senate of 87th Texas Legislature hereby
64	64	respectfully request the federal government to immediately
65	65	declare violent foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist
66	66	organizations under Section 219 of the Immigration and
67	67	Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1189; and, be it further
68	68	RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate hereby find that the State
69	69	of Texas has been invaded by foreign drug cartels and that the
70	70	citizens of this state are in danger of irreparable harm; and, be
71	71	it further
72	72	RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate hereby encourage the Texas
73	73	Military Department and all applicable state resources as
74	74	needed, to use any and all authority under Article I, Section 10
75	75	of the United States Constitution to repel this violent foreign
76	76	drug cartel invasion, and that such authority should be invoked
77	77	with the intention of utilizing such authority in the most
78	78	peaceful manner possible consistent with bringing this invasion
79	79	to a conclusion at the earliest possible moment.