Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HCR78 Compare Versions

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1	1	88R8190 TBO-F
2	2	By: Bumgarner H.C.R. No. 78
3	3
4	4
5	5	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, The State of Texas and the United States federal
7	7	government are charged with protecting 1,254 miles of land along
8	8	Texas' border with Mexico, a job that has become increasingly
9	9	violent as this state has succumbed to an invasion by foreign drug
10	10	cartels; and
11	11	WHEREAS, These foreign drug cartels bring terror to Texas
12	12	communities by flooding the streets with deadly narcotics, forcing
13	13	women and children into human and sex trafficking, enriching
14	14	themselves on the misery and enslavement of Texans, and butchering
15	15	and murdering anyone who tries to stop them; and
16	16	WHEREAS, State and local law enforcement agencies are forced
17	17	to contend with extensive and dangerous criminal activity resulting
18	18	from, or associated with, foreign drug cartels, thereby putting
19	19	Texas law enforcement officials in danger and draining resources
20	20	away from protecting our communities; and
21	21	WHEREAS, The State of Texas has attempted to address the
22	22	problem by adding hundreds of commissioned law enforcement officers
23	23	to the border, purchasing state-of-the-art helicopters, conducting
24	24	border security surge operations, and paying millions of dollars
25	25	for overtime, training, equipment, and technology for local law
26	26	enforcement; and
27	27	WHEREAS, Law enforcement agencies working together in Texas
28	28	have seized billions of dollars in illegal drugs and hundreds of
29	29	millions in cash, along with thousands of firearms, and weapons,
30	30	all related to the invasion of drug cartels; and
31	31	WHEREAS, Texas has repeatedly asked the federal government to
32	32	send more border security resources to the state, requesting an
33	33	increase in manpower of border patrol agents and the deployment of
34	34	National Guard troops; and
35	35	WHEREAS, Texas prisons house violent offenders that claim
36	36	foreign citizenship, and the state bears the cost of housing and
37	37	prosecuting those offenders; and
38	38	WHEREAS, Texas taxpayers have spent billions compensating
39	39	for the lack of federal resources provided to the state; and
40	40	WHEREAS, The inability of the federal government to develop a
41	41	comprehensive plan that would address this border security problem
42	42	puts an unfair and unreasonable burden on the entire state, but in
43	43	particular on Texas border communities; and
44	44	WHEREAS, Under Article I, Section 10 of the United States
45	45	Constitution, Texas is entitled as a sovereign state of the United
46	46	States of America to protect itself against this current foreign
47	47	drug cartel invasion; this constitutional authority grants the
48	48	State of Texas the power to defend the state when the state has been
49	49	invaded, or is "in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay";
50	50	and
51	51	WHEREAS, The Governor, in a letter to the President of the
52	52	United States on November 16, 2022, invoked the authority under
53	53	Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, to protect
54	54	the State of Texas; now, therefore, be it
55	55	RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas
56	56	hereby demand the federal government to immediately declare violent
57	57	foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations under
58	58	Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1189;
59	59	and, be it further
60	60	RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby find that the
61	61	State of Texas has been invaded by foreign drug cartels and that the
62	62	citizens of this state are in danger of irreparable harm; and, be it
63	63	further
64	64	RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby encourage all
65	65	applicable state and local resources as needed, to use any and all
66	66	authority under Article I, Section 10 of the United States
67	67	Constitution to repel this violent foreign drug cartel invasion,
68	68	and that such authority should be invoked with the intention of
69	69	utilizing such authority in the most peaceful manner possible
70	70	consistent with bringing this invasion to a conclusion at the
71	71	earliest possible moment.