(RightWing.org) – While delegates were hammering out the Articles of Confederation and eventually the Constitution of the United States of America, they were constantly arguing about Federalism (most power residing with a central government) and State Rights. This is where each of the 13 original states would handle the minutia of day-to-day life, while the national government would deal with how they interacted with one another. Now, almost 250 years later, it seems the battle lines are being drawn between a group of Red southern states and the currently Blue administration in Washington D.C., headed by President Joe Biden, The fight is taking place in the federal courts without bullets flying (for now, at least).
If Not Us, Then Who?
The area around the city of Eagle Pass, Texas, has been in the news for months now for incidents like the one where Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton won a court order allowing them to keep flotation devices across the Rio Grande River to at least slow down the flood of illegal aliens crossing there. They were also at the forefront of letting the world know that federal agents were filmed cutting gaps in concertina wire and actually helping people climb out of the river and into America.
The administration’s latest salvo came in the form of a letter from Jonathan Meyer, General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), addressing the recent events in the Shelby Park area, where Governor Abbott took the enormous step of ordering the Texas Military Department (TMD) to secure it from US Border Patrol personnel. After summarizing the Biden administration’s position on the matter, the missive closes with this, “Texas’s actions are clearly unconstitutional and we demand that Texas cease and desist [sic]” their occupation of the park. Some of their allegations included:
- The TMD is illegally occupying land owned by the City of Eagle Pass and the US government.
- The Border Patrol is being unreasonably restricted from using boat ramps in the area.
- Uses the tragic drowning of people trying to cross the river to accuse the state of being uncaring of any “exigent circumstances.”
AG Paxton’s reply was quite firm, some on the Left will no doubt describe it as rude, high-handed, or just plain wrong in the days ahead. In today’s vernacular, his letter could be summed up as something like — Hey thanks Jon, we appreciate the offer but, we’ll pass.
Paxton told Meyer that the DHS “should stop wasting scarce time and resources suing Texas,” and most helpfully told him that he would not dwell on all the mistakes in the original letter, but did say that “a few of your false claims must be debunked.” Taking exception to the portrayal of Texas being at fault for the migrants’ deaths, he rightly points out that this happened on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and Mexican authorities had retrieved the bodies.
The AG also reminded Meyer of a federal court ruling where the judge asked why the Biden administration was forcing people that they were eventually going to allow entry into the country to make a dangerous crossing. Instead of simply walking across a bridge to a port of entry. Paxton then threw a haymaker onto the collective chin of the group who had claimed that the duty of securing the borders is the responsibility of the federal government under the US Constitution. He posed the simple question “When were you planning to start?”
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