Hardin County passes resolution for securing the border

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Pct. 1 Commissioner L.W. Cooper Jr. listens to Sheena Rodriguez as she speaks via Zoom to the Hardin County Commissioners Court on Aug. 23.
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During the Aug. 23 meeting, the Hardin County Commissioner Court heard from several people outside the county, via Zoom, concerning the issues at the state’s southern border after they unanimously passed a resolution calling for Gov. Greg Abbott to take additional measures to secure the border in President Joe Biden’s absence.
 

According to County Judge Wayne McDaniel, the county is one of approximately 12 to adopt such resolutions. Chambers, Liberty, Orange and Tyler county commissioners have passed similar resolutions.

Commissioners heard from Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith and Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan, along with residents Julie Clark and Sheena Rodriguez.


Smith told the court his county, which is mostly rural with a population of less than 4,000. 


“The property owners in this county have suffered assault, been shot at and burglarized,” he said. “Thousands each day are coming through the border.”


Smith noted that illegal immigrants are not stopping in Kinney County, but are relocating to large metropolitan areas to deal drugs and human trafficking.


Shahan said his county has been invaded at the rate of between 4,000 and 5,000 undetected illegal immigrants a month.


Hardin County Attorney Mark Minick noted Kinney County has about 5,000 current criminal trespassing cases besides other cases pending in Smith’s court.
“We don’t have 5,000 with a population of over 55,000 people pending right now,” he said. “We don’t have more than 1,000 pending in our office right now. Just for context, what is going on there is madness.”


Clark, the county Republican Party chair for Medina County, said her county is 106 miles from the border.


“What we see on a daily bases, would really disturb everybody who is trying to raise a family and live a regular life,” she said. 


Clark noted there have been 1.3 million illegal immigrants that have come to Texas since January.
“Since the border has opened, there have been over 5 million illegal immigrants coming to the country,” she added. “Besides drug cartels, we have human trafficking where young kids are being given to strangers and distributed across the country.”
Clark said after the illegal immigrants are caught, instead of being sent back to their county there are being released in Texas. 


“They’re given money, different opportunities and transportation throughout this country,” she added. “They are using these people and giving them IDs so they can vote in our elections coming up. This is so alarming.”


Rodriguez, president and founder of Alliance for a Safe Texas and Secure the Border, said she has been along the border from El Paso to the Rio Grand Valley. She said the flight of illegal immigrants is affecting all of the state’s 254 counties.


“In Tarrant County, there has been a 60% increase in fentanyl-related deaths,” she said. “In Collin County, the sheriff has cited over a 450% increase in drug-related overdoses.”


Rodriguez added there has been a shift in gang activities, especially among MS-13 members.


“It’s all related to the border,” she said. “All these issues (drugs, gangs, human and sex trafficking) are not new, but it’s exploding at an unprecedented rate that is uncontrollable.”


The resolution cites Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution and Article IV, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution. According to the provision in the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. shall guarantee to every state a Republican form of government and shall protect each of them against invasion. 


Under the state constitution, the governor shall become the commander-in-chief of the state’s military forces, except when they are called into actual service of the U.S. He shall have the power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.


The resolution states that cartels exploit weak and insecure borders for their own power and profit, to the detriment of our communities; and act as paramilitary, narco-terrorist organizations that profit from trafficking people and drugs into the U.S.


“The U.S. has a drug epidemic whereby tens of thousands of Americans die every year and, specifically, Hardin County has a major health and public safety issue with meth, which greatly impacts our communities, our families, our jail, our court system, and our other local resources,” according to the resolution.


Also, the resolution stated U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reported that agents seized 192,000 pounds of meth at the southern border in 2021.


“The ongoing border security crisis is not acceptable, and has resulted in a security threat and humanitarian disaster with overwhelming consequences to residents in the State of Texas; and numerous Texas border counties, experiencing local disaster situations as a result of inadequate border security, have passed declarations and resolutions calling for further action and security on the southern Texas border,” the resolution stated.
Under the resolution, Hardin County recognizes the state’s southern border if suffering an invasion and under the U.S. and State Constitution, the state can defend itself against invasion which has been exacerbated by the Federal Government’s failure in
meeting its constitutional obligation to “insure domestic tranquility,” “provide for the common defense,” “execute the laws,” and “protect each (State) against invasion.”


It also calls for the federal government to uphold its duties to secure and protect the borders of the U.S.