Good morning,

Brandon Waltens and I spent yesterday along the Texas-Mexico border. The cartels are aware that the Biden Administration isn’t interested in enforcing border security, and it shows.

That leads today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

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The situation along the Texas-Mexico border has “gotten worse” – that’s the assessment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after meeting with local law enforcement officials in Laredo yesterday.

Local officials estimate there are close to 700 “stash houses” operating in Laredo alone in which illegal aliens are kept after initially crossing the border. As we walked along the Rio Grande north of Laredo, Border Patrol agents pointed out cartel “spotters” just a hundred yards away whose job it is to track American law enforcement activities. The cartels carefully track Border Patrol shift changes, travel patterns, and response times so they can better traffic people, weapons, and narcotics into Texas. While Democrats and the media paint a picture of illegal aliens as families seeking a better life, the reality is more stark. The National Border Patrol Council’s Sergio Moreno told me upwards of 94 percent of those crossing in the Laredo sector are single men with violent records. And of the 52,000 apprehensions so far in Fiscal Year 2021, just under half are “other than Mexicans.”

A common theme was that “every bit helps” – deployment of the National Guard troops, state and local officials, and likewise. While those bodies serve as a visual deterrent, none actually have the authority to detain the illegal aliens and send them back across the border. Without bold action on Texas’ part, the “troops on the border” are window dressing.

As Attorney General Paxton explained, the effect of SCOTUS’ Arizona v United States [[link removed]] is that state and local officials cannot deport illegal aliens. If they try to do so, the federal government could be able charge the individual officer – the sheriff’s deputy, the police officer, the state trooper – with kidnapping, for example. The Supreme Court asserted that the “Supremacy Clause” of the Constitution gives Congress the power to preempt state law – and Congress has given no wiggle room for states to protect their international borders.

The State of Texas must be willing to confront the Biden Administration (and that flawed 2012 Supreme Court ruling) if we are to protect Texans from the escalating cartel violence.

Platitudes from the governor simply aren’t enough. Without bold action by Texas, a dire situation will continue to get worse. Reminder: last weekend Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said Greg Abbott is a “ total fraud [[link removed]]” on border security issues. What I learned yesterday makes me think Carlson was being kind. By a voice vote, the Texas House last night passed Senate Bill 1336 by Kelly Hancock [[link removed]] (R-North Richland Hills) that – if it survives another vote tomorrow – would begin (in 2023) limiting the growth of some state spending. Jeramy Kitchen has the details [[link removed]].

For many years this has been a top fiscal priority for conservatives.

While the measure specifically doesn’t apply to the entire budget, and excludes federal spending altogether, SB 1336 nonetheless represents a big step forward in protecting taxpayers from out-of-control state spending.

Don’t miss the historic significance of this: The same bill was passed out of the Senate in the 2019 legislative session, but it ultimately died in the House of Representatives without ever getting a hearing in the House Appropriations Committee. The GOP-dominated Texas House then turned around and flipped a metaphorical middle finger at the Republican Party of Texas by killing a ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying – for the second session in a row. A ban has been a top priority of conservatives for years, and was a Texas GOP priority for this session.

Earlier this spring the Senate passed a very limited measure (Senate Bill 10) which the House State Affairs Committee proceeded to turn into a bill permitting taxpayer-funded lobbying. Rather than risk the measure being fixed on the House floor, the chairman of the State Affairs Committee “postponed” SB 10 to a date in September – after the session and on the birthday of ban advocate Mayes Middleton.

Do not underestimate how much the Texas House GOP caucus dislikes conservative voters and the Texas GOP priorities. After Gov. Greg Abbott banned Texans from being with their loved ones in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities last year, state lawmakers obviously listened to citizens eager to prevent such inhumane treatment from occurring again. Robert Montoya explains what happened [[link removed]]. Y’All Answered

Yesterday’s One Click Survey imagined a world where the GOP had to pick a previous Republican ticket to take on Biden-Harris in a special election. The match-up was Bush-Cheney and Trump-Pence. You won’t be surprised to learn 94.5 percent of readers chose Mr. Trump.

“Results should be 100% Trump and Pence unless someone is asleep at the wheel.” – Richard DuVall

“RESULTS over RHETORIC. TRUMP/PENCE over Bush/Chaney.” – Bette Cox

“I was happy to vote for Bush. As time has passed he has shown himself to be just another political insider.” – Lisa Buck

“Trump has tarnished Republicans for at least a decade.” – Katie Long

“We'd be hard-pressed to find a single thing on which Trump was NOT more conservative than every other president on my lifetime (ever?) in how he ran things both domestically and internationally.” – Walter Bowen

“I would never pick George ‘Patriot Act’ Bush, nor ‘Hunting Accident’ Cheney, and I hope President Trump doesn't come back with Mike ‘Back-stabber’ Pence.” – Marianne Dawes Number of the Day

871,459

Number of “enforcement actions” by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol so far in Fiscal Year 2021 (Oct. 1, 2020, through the end of April). That compares to 646,822 for the entire previous year.

[Source: U.S. Customs and Border Patrol]

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PO Box 248, Leander, TX 78646 Produced by Michael Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Waltens, the Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is delivered weekday mornings (though we'll take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

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