Bill Text: TX SCR1 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 1st Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging the federal government to immediately declare violent foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-07-08 - Filed [SCR1 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-SCR1-Introduced.html
| 87S10558 CJM-D | ||
| By: Perry | S.C.R. No. 1 | |
|
|
||
| WHEREAS, The State of Texas and the United States federal | ||
| government are charged with protecting 1,254 miles of land along | ||
| Texas' border with Mexico, a job that has become increasingly | ||
| violent as this state has succumbed to a foreign drug | ||
| cartel-facilitated invasion; and | ||
| WHEREAS, These foreign drug cartels bring terror to Texas | ||
| communities by flooding the streets with deadly narcotics, forcing | ||
| women and children into human and sex trafficking, enriching | ||
| themselves on the misery and enslavement of Texans, and butchering | ||
| and murdering anyone who tries to stop them; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2021, U.S. Customs and Border | ||
| Protection reports over 172,000 pounds of illegal narcotics have | ||
| been seized from foreign drug cartels in Texas; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Specifically, federal seizures of fentanyl in Texas | ||
| have dramatically increased by more than 750 percent this fiscal | ||
| year; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In fiscal year 2021, the U.S. Border Patrol has | ||
| already arrested more than 5,800 noncitizens that were determined | ||
| to have prior criminal records; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The Office of the Texas Attorney General estimates | ||
| that there are 234,000 victims of labor trafficking and 79,000 | ||
| victims of youth and minor sex trafficking at any given time in | ||
| Texas; and | ||
| WHEREAS, State and local law enforcement agencies are forced | ||
| to contend with extensive and dangerous criminal activity resulting | ||
| from, or associated with, foreign drug cartels, thereby putting | ||
| Texas law enforcement officials in danger and draining resources | ||
| away from protecting our communities; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The State of Texas has attempted to address the | ||
| problem by adding hundreds of commissioned law enforcement officers | ||
| to the border, purchasing state-of-the-art helicopters, conducting | ||
| border security surge operations, and paying millions of dollars | ||
| for overtime, training, equipment, and technology for local law | ||
| enforcement; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Law enforcement agencies working together in Texas | ||
| have seized billions of dollars in illegal drugs and hundreds of | ||
| millions in cash, along with thousands of firearms and weapons, all | ||
| related to the foreign drug cartel-facilitated invasion; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Texas has repeatedly asked the federal government to | ||
| send more border security resources to the state, requesting an | ||
| increase in manpower of border patrol agents and the deployment of | ||
| National Guard troops; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Texas prisons house thousands of violent offenders | ||
| that claim foreign citizenship, and the state bears the cost of | ||
| housing and prosecuting those offenders; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Texas taxpayers have spent billions compensating | ||
| for the lack of federal resources provided to the state; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The unwillingness of the federal government to | ||
| develop a comprehensive plan that would address this border | ||
| security problem puts an unfair and unreasonable burden on the | ||
| entire state, but in particular on Texas border communities; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The federal government has failed to protect the | ||
| State of Texas from this foreign drug cartel-facilitated invasion | ||
| as required by Article IV, Section 4 of the United States | ||
| Constitution; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Under Article I, Section 10 of the United States | ||
| Constitution, Texas is entitled as a sovereign state of the United | ||
| States of America to protect itself against this current foreign | ||
| drug cartel-facilitated invasion, which grants the State of Texas | ||
| the power to defend the state when the state has been invaded, or is | ||
| "in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay"; now, | ||
| therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas, | ||
| 1st Called Session, hereby respectfully request the federal | ||
| government to immediately declare violent foreign drug cartels as | ||
| foreign terrorist organizations under Section 219 of the | ||
| Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1189; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby find that foreign | ||
| drug cartels have facilitated an invasion of the State of Texas and | ||
| that the citizens of this state are in danger of irreparable harm; | ||
| and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby encourage the | ||
| Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department | ||
| to use any and all authority under Article I, Section 10 of the | ||
| United States Constitution to repel this violent foreign drug | ||
| cartel-facilitated invasion, and that such authority should be | ||
| invoked as the authorization for use of military force with the | ||
| intention of utilizing such authority in the most peaceful manner | ||
| possible consistent with bringing this facilitated invasion to a | ||
| conclusion at the earliest possible moment. | ||
