GOP governors back Abbott in border standoff

Republican governors are backing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in his standoff against the federal government over border authority.

On Tuesday, the Texas National Guard appeared to ignore a Supreme Court decision and continued building razor wire barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, preventing the federal Border Patrol from doing their jobs.

In a statement Wednesday, Abbott justified the actions by claiming his authority to combat an “invasion” of the state “supersedes” federal law.

GOP Govs. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Brian Kemp of Georgia have all said they support Abbott’s actions.

“If the Constitution really made states powerless to defend themselves against an invasion, it wouldn’t have been ratified in the first place and Texas would have never joined the union when it did,” DeSantis said on X, formerly Twitter. “TX is upholding the law while Biden is flouting it.”

Youngkin added that the Biden administration “has turned every state into a border state,” and that Abbott is doing what the border officials “refuse to do to secure our border.”

Stitt, Noem and Kemp also said their states “stand with” Texas.

The federal government has claimed in court filings that the Texas National Guard has physically prevented the Border Patrol from doing its job on certain parts of the Rio Grande, as well as blocked off portions of the border previously used to process migrants.

The claim that Texas officials can supersede federal authority has sparked calls from Democrats for President Biden to nationalize the Texas National Guard and force them to follow the court’s decision and federal law.

Democratic Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar have advocated for nationalizing the state guard.

Abbott’s statement Wednesday specifically claims the federal government has “broken the compact” with the states, justifying ignoring federal law and the Supreme Court. 

The so-called “compact theory” is a rejected idea of state supremacy used to justify the secession of Confederate states during the Civil War. The Supreme Court repeatedly shot down the legal theory in the early years of the U.S., when it was first proposed to nullify federal legislation during former President John Adams’s time in office.