HCR 14

89R1141 KSM-F
		By: Dorazio
  H.C.R. No. 14
  CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         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 an invasion by foreign drug
  cartels; 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, 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 invasion of drug cartels; 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 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 inability 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, 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 invasion; this constitutional authority 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";
  and
         WHEREAS, The Governor, in a letter to the President of the
  United States on November 16, 2022, invoked the authority under
  Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, to protect
  the State of Texas; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby demand 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 the
  State of Texas has been invaded by foreign drug cartels and that the
  citizens of this state are in danger of irreparable harm; and, be it
  further
         RESOLVED, That the Texas Legislature hereby encourage all
  applicable state and local resources as needed, to use any and all
  authority under Article I, Section 10 of the United States
  Constitution to repel this violent foreign drug cartel invasion,
  and that such authority should be invoked with the intention of
  utilizing such authority in the most peaceful manner possible
  consistent with bringing this invasion to a conclusion at the
  earliest possible moment.