[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 362 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 362
To express the sense of the Senate regarding the constitutional right
of State Governors to repel the dangerous ongoing invasion across the
United States southern border.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 26 (legislative day, September 22), 2023
Mr. Marshall submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
To express the sense of the Senate regarding the constitutional right
of State Governors to repel the dangerous ongoing invasion across the
United States southern border.
Whereas, during a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, President Biden
called for ``all those people seeking asylum'' to ``immediately surge to
the border'';
Whereas, during a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, President Biden
raised his hand when candidates were asked if their health plans will
provide coverage for illegal immigrants;
Whereas, during a 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate, President Biden
pledged support for ``sanctuary cities'' when he stated that illegal
immigrants arrested by local police should not be turned over to Federal
immigration authorities;
Whereas, on January 20, 2021, one of President Biden's first actions as
President was sending proposed legislation, the U.S. Citizenship Act, to
Congress, which would provide a path to citizenship for an estimated
10,000,000 to 12,000,000 illegal immigrants who are currently residing
in the United States;
Whereas, on January 20, 2021, President Biden also issued a ``Proclamation on
the Termination Of Emergency With Respect To The Southern Border Of The
United States And Redirection Of Funds Diverted To Border Wall
Construction'', which halted construction of physical barriers along the
international border between the United States and Mexico, and he later
terminated existing border wall construction contracts and failed to
obligate more than $1,000,000,000 that Congress had lawfully
appropriated for border wall construction;
Whereas, on January 20, 2021, President Biden also halted enrollments in the
Migrant Protection Protocols policy, which is also known as the ``remain
in Mexico'' program;
Whereas, on February 6, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspended
and terminated the Asylum Cooperative Agreements with the Governments of
El Salvador, of Guatemala, and of Honduras;
Whereas, in March 2022, the Department of Homeland Security began implementing
the interim final rule titled ``Procedures for Credible Fear Screening
and Consideration of Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and CAT Protection
Claims by Asylum Officers'' which authorizes U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services to consider the asylum applications of individuals
subject to expedited removal and violates the law enacted by Congress
that requires asylum seekers to offer evidence to persuade a judge in an
immigration court;
Whereas, in August 2022, the Department of Homeland Security terminated the
Migrant Protection Protocols (commonly known as the Remain in Mexico
policy), which required aliens with pending asylum claims to wait in
Mexico;
Whereas, during fiscal year 2021, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
executed 59,000 deportations, which represents the lowest number of
deportations since fiscal year 2008, and fewer than \1/3\ as many
deportations as the number of people who were deported during fiscal
year 2020, and is significantly lower than the 226,000 to 410,000
removals that occurred every fiscal year since 2008;
Whereas, during fiscal year 2021, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement--
(1) arrested 48 percent fewer convicted criminals than had been
arrested during the prior fiscal year;
(2) deported 63 percent fewer criminals than had been deported in the
prior fiscal year; and
(3) issued 56 percent fewer ``detainer requests'' to local authorities
than had been issued in the prior fiscal year;
Whereas, during fiscal year 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection made more
than 1,700,000 arrests of illegal immigrants along the international
border between the United States and Mexico, which was the highest level
ever recorded until more than 2,300,000 illegal immigrants were arrested
along such border during fiscal year 2022;
Whereas, on April 1, 2022, President Biden announced the termination of a public
health policy used to expel potentially infected illegal immigrants
during the COVID-19 pandemic (commonly known as ``title 42'');
Whereas, on September 30, 2021, Department of Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas issued a memorandum titled ``Guidelines for the
Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law'', which stated that an alien's
illegal status in the United States should not be the sole basis of an
enforcement action and prioritized for apprehension and removal aliens
who are a threat to national security, public safety, or border
security;
Whereas, on October 12, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued a memorandum titled
``Worksite Enforcement: The Strategy to Protect the American Labor
Market, the Conditions of the American Worksite, and the Dignity of the
Individual'', which included Department-wide guidance to cease mass
worksite operations, among other instructions;
Whereas, on October 27, 2021, Secretary Mayorkas issued a memorandum titled
``Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas'', which
listed numerous protected areas where the enforcement of Federal
immigration law should not occur;
Whereas, in May 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested 239,416
illegal immigrants along the international border between the United
States and Mexico, which is the highest number of arrests ever recorded
in a single month;
Whereas President Biden's fiscal year 2023 budget request aims to shift the
Department of Homeland Security's border management away from
enforcement and toward ``effectively managing irregular migration along
the Southwest border'';
Whereas, in November 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott--
(1) declared a state of invasion at the southern border; and
(2) increased security at the border to protect the state of Texas by
invoking--
G (A) section 10 of article I of the Constitution of the United
States; and
G (B) the invasion clauses in the Texas Constitution;
Whereas, in March 2023, at a hearing of the Committee on Homeland Security of
the House of Representatives, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told
lawmakers that the Department of Homeland Security did not have
operational control of the border;
Whereas, in March 2023, at a hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary of the
Senate, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that he
does not use the statutory definition of operational control under
section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-367; 8
U.S.C. 1701 note) when asked if the Department of Homeland Security had
operational control of the border;
Whereas, on January 6, 2023, the Biden Administration abused its parole
authority under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)) to create a new parole program for nationals of Cuba,
Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela;
Whereas, on April 27, 2023, the Biden Administration further abused its parole
authority by creating a new family reunification parole process, which
grants parole to entire categories of aliens rather than granting parole
on a case-by-case basis, as required under such section 212(d)(5);
Whereas the Biden Administration created a parole with conditions policy
authorizing U.S. Border Patrol agents to release aliens through parole
before they are given a Notice to Appear or entered into removal
proceedings;
Whereas the Biden Administration has expanded the use of the CBP One app,
allowing tens of thousands of aliens to enter the United States
unlawfully to hide the mass immigration surge following the termination
of the order of suspension issued by the Director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention under section 362 of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 265) as a result of the public health emergency
relating to the COVID-19 pandemic (commonly known as the ``title 42
order'');
Whereas drug cartels are receiving an estimated $13,000,000,000 each year from
their human smuggling operations across the southern border of the
United States, which represents an enormous increase from the estimated
$500,000,000 the drug cartels received in 2018 from such operations;
Whereas, in March 2023, according to the non-detained docket, an estimated
5,290,000 illegal aliens were at large in the United States, including
407,983 criminal aliens;
Whereas the estimated fiscal burden of illegal immigration on taxpayers in
fiscal year 2023 is estimated to be $150,700,000,000, which is a massive
increase from the estimated fiscal burden of $116,000,000,000 during
fiscal year 2017. Tax payments by illegal aliens are equal to
approximately \1/6\ of the costs incurred by government entities in the
United States on their behalf;
Whereas, during fiscal year 2022, total Federal justice enforcement expenditures
as a result of illegal immigration were $25,100,000,000 and total
Federal welfare program expenditures for illegal aliens were
$11,600,000,000;
Whereas, in April 2023, the Biden Administration proposed a plan to expand
healthcare access for aliens granted deferred action pursuant to the
final rule submitted by the Department of Homeland Security titled
``Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals'' (87 Fed. Reg. 53152 (August
30, 2022)), further encouraging illegal aliens to enter the United
States;
Whereas, on May 3, 2023, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department
of Homeland Security issued a report titled ``Intensifying Conditions at
the Southwest Border Are Negatively Impacting CBP and ICE Employees'
Health and Morale'';
Whereas, in June 2023, the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of
Representatives opened an investigation into Secretary of Homeland
Security Mayorkas for dereliction of duty;
Whereas, in June 2023, an estimated 16,800,000 illegal aliens resided in the
United States, which represents an increase of an estimated 16 percent
during the first 2 years of the Biden presidency;
Whereas, on June 30, 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the
expansion of available CBP One appointments to 1,450 per day;
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection has apprehended illegal immigrants
from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil,
other Central and Latin American nations, Turkey, India, Russia, and
other nations outside of the Western Hemisphere;
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has apprehended 50 people since October
1, 2021, along the international border between the United States and
Mexico who are listed on the Federal Bureau of Investigations' terrorist
screening database;
Whereas U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested more than 10,800 illegal
aliens during fiscal year 2023 who have been convicted of 1 or more
crimes in the United States or abroad, including--
(1) 225 convicted sexual criminals;
(2) 24 who were convicted of homicide or manslaughter;
(3) 232 who were convicted of illegal weapons possession, transport, or
trafficking;
(4) 644 who were convicted of burglary, robbery, larceny, theft, or
fraud; and
(5) 924 who were convicted of assault, battery, or domestic violence;
Whereas, during fiscal year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized--
(1) 14,599 pounds of fentanyl;
(2) 1,871 pounds of heroin;
(3) 175,410 pounds of methamphetamine;
(4) 70,293 pounds of cocaine; and
(5) 13,755 pounds of ketamine;
Whereas provisional data from the National Center for Health Statistics of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there were
107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 2021, an
increase of nearly 15 percent from the estimated 93,655 deaths in 2020,
with overdose deaths involving opioids increasing from an estimated
70,029 in 2020 to an estimated 80,816 in 2021, and overdose deaths from
synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl), psychostimulants (such as
methamphetamine), and cocaine also increasing during 2021;
Whereas clause 1 of section 10 of article I of the United States Constitution
states, in part, ``No State shall, without the Consent of Congress . . .
engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as
will not admit of delay.'';
Whereas section 4 of article IV of the United States Constitution states, in
part, ``The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against
Invasion'';
Whereas, in the context of known security concerns due to a lack of proper
vetting processes and systems, and in conjunction with how the mass
unlawful movement of people across the border of the United States
directly empowers and enriches cartels and transnational gangs, the
totality of such activity constitutes an invasion;
Whereas, on October 26, 2021, Arizona State Representative Jake Hoffman sent a
letter to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich requesting a formal
legal opinion determining whether President Biden has violated his
obligations to protect Arizona from invasion under section 4 of article
IV of the United States Constitution; and
Whereas, on February 7, 2022, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued a
formal legal opinion, which states, in part--
(1) ``The on-the-ground violence and lawlessness at Arizona's border
caused by cartels and gangs is extensive, well-documented, and persistent.
It can satisfy the definition of `actually invaded' and `invasion' under
the U.S. Constitution.''; and
(2) ``Arizona retains the independent authority under the State Self-
Defense Clause to defend itself when actually invaded.'': Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the Senate finds that--
(1) President Biden's dereliction of duty and failure to
take care that the laws be faithfully executed at our southern
border has directly put the citizens of all 50 States in danger
and has resulted in loss of life;
(2) the violent activity and smuggling of drugs, humans,
guns, and other illicit goods carried out by drug cartels and
transnational criminal organizations, and the crossing of the
international border between legal ports of entry by
significant numbers of individuals contrary to the laws of the
United States, meet the definitions of--
(A) ``actually invaded'' under clause 3 of section
10 of article I of the United States Constitution; and
(B) ``invasion'' under section 4 of article IV of
the United States Constitution; and
(3) Governors of all 50 States possess the authority and
power as Commander-in-Chief of their respective States to repel
the invasion described in paragraph (2).
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