by Bethany Blankley
The majority of American voters polled believe the U.S. is being invaded at the southern border.
The findings come after Texas counties have led the national conversation on invasion, introducing the term and making the case for Texas’ constitutional right to self-defense.
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, nearly two-thirds of American voters surveyed say the southern border crisis should be called an invasion.
The majority, 64 percent, said it “is accurate to describe the current situation with migrants at the border with Mexico as an ‘invasion’ of the United States.”
Among those polled, 42 percent said the description is “very accurate;” 33 percent said it isn’t.
A larger percentage, 69 percent, said the “situation with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border is a crisis;” 22 percent said it wasn’t.
“These findings have barely changed since our January survey,” Rasmussen Reports said. Its January poll found that 65 percent of likely U.S. voters say it’s accurate to describe the southern border crisis an invasion. A larger majority, 70 percent, said border security is a vital national security interest; 72 percent acknowledged what’s happening is a crisis.
The most recent poll asked three questions: Is border security a vital national security interest for the United States these days?; Is the current situation with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border a crisis?; and How accurate is it to describe the current situation with migrants at the border with Mexico as an “invasion” of the United States?
The first survey was conducted by telephone and online with 1,044 likely U.S. voters from January 2-4 and has a margin of error of 3 percent. The second survey was conducted among 1,099 likely U.S. voters from March 31 to April 2 and has a margin of error of 3 percent. The majority polled were female, between the ages of 40-64, white and Democrats.
The polling comes after elected Republican officials nationwide have increasingly referred to the border crisis as an invasion, after former President Donald Trump referred to it as a “Biden invasion,” and after numerous commentators began using the term.
Prior to three Texas counties introducing the concept and changing the national conversation by arguing Texas and the U.S. was being invaded, no one was using the term.
The leaders of Kinney, Goliad and Terrell counties first declared an invasion on July 5, 2022. Since then, 55 Texas counties passed invasion resolutions arguing the federal government has abdicated its authority under Article 4, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, known as the “Guarantee Clause.” As a result, they argue, Texas, under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3, known as the “Self-Defense Clause,” has a right to self-defense when “actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
Former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich was the first and only state attorney general to publish a formal opinion on the issue of invasion and state’s right to self-defense, citing arguments made by former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He also made the same case before Congress, explaining that the Guarantee Clause “provides that the United States shall protect each state against invasion. This clause provides dual protection against an invasion broadly defined. This includes not only defending against actions by foreign hostilities but also other enterprises and more powerful neighbors as the constitution states.” It also “encompasses a broad self-defense” against non-state actors like cartels and gangs operating along the border, he said.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was the first governor to declare an invasion at the southern border before a state legislature in modern history. The first to do so was Texas Gov. Sam Houston in 1860, The Center Square first reported.
After the November 2022 election, a former active-duty Navy JAG and national security law expert renewed the call for Texas to declare an invasion. Days later, Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to county judges pointing to an executive order he issued in June 2022. In it, he cited the Texas Disaster Act of 1975 and U.S. Constitution as his authority to direct the Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety to apprehend illegal foreign nationals “who cross the border between ports of entry or commit other violations of federal law, and to return [them] to the border at a port of entry.”
The Texas Legislature, which has not passed an invasion resolution, has allocated over $11.6 billion for border security efforts over four years. Last year, it passed a law to make illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation a crime, which is currently held up in litigation.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made similar arguments, pointing out that when the delegates ratified the U.S. Constitution, they “would not have done so if they did not have the power to defend themselves.” He also cited the Guarantee and Self-Defense clauses of the U.S. Constitution as justification for state’s rights to self-defense and was also one of the first governors to argue the United States is being invaded.
More recently, retired FBI counterintelligence leaders warned about a likely terrorist attack being committed by criminals illegally entering the country through “a soft invasion.”
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Bethany Blankley is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Illegal Border Crossers” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
