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Floor Speech
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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I rise today to ask unanimous consent that the Senate adopt our resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Governors of the individual States have a constitutional right to repel the dangerous and ongoing invasion across the U.S. southern border.
Joe Biden has the power to secure our borders. Instead, he has chosen to break the law, resulting in the worst border crisis in American history.
Frankly, I don't know how the President sleeps at night knowing that 300 young Americans will die today from fentanyl poisoning: 300 yesterday, 300 tomorrow. Three hundred thousand people have died from fentanyl poisoning since he took office.
Along with that, there are terrorists, Chinese communist nationals, cartels. And worse, they are all living in the interior of our country.
Since our Commander in Chief won't stop this historic crisis, an invasion declaration, as defined by the U.S. Constitution, allows Congress to recognize each State's right to secure their own borders. Where Joe Biden fails to put Americans' safety first, our resolution acknowledges each State's right to secure their borders themselves, as leaders like Texas Governor Greg Abbott have. The cartels and the CCP should not have more operational control of our borders than we do.
We have reviewed the big picture here. Let's take a closer look. I think the first question we all ask is, Is this an invasion? Well, to have an invasion, you have to have invaders. And as we try to understand what the Constitution means, it is good to go back to some of those Founding Fathers when they defined what they thought were ``invaders.''
It is interesting that James Madison called pirates and barbarians invaders. And just like the barbarians of Madison's time, today's cartels and terrorists are those invaders acting like pirates of the day.
So then let's talk about is this an invasion? Do we have an invasion on our southern border? You know, I tried to think what analogies I could give of what it was like when I visited the southern border. But we are here in DC, so I will kind of paint a picture of what I think it would look like if this invasion were occurring right here in DC.
If you could imagine with me what it would look like if there were 10,000 ships coming up the Potomac River over the last 3 years--10,000 ships, each with 1,000 people from over 180 different nations; 10,000 ships, 1,000 people from 180 different nations. Let's pretend they come up the Potomac River and they lay anchor right out here at the Wharf and those people slowly get off one at a time. The way I would envision this is one of those ships is full of known terrorists and Chinese nationals. There would be 80 ships with aliens of interest--people from countries that wish harm to America. There would be 200 ships anchored out here where people would hop off the ship and just disappear into the night--200 ships with 1,000 people on it disappearing into the night, and we have no idea who they are or where they are. There would be another 200 ships--200 ships with 1,000 people--that President Biden would give parole to, just say: You are fine. We don't care what reason you are here for, here is your parole slip. And then sprinkled in amongst these ships are criminals, murderers, rapists, thugs, drug traffickers, human traffickers, and thieves. Does that sound like an invasion to you?
Next, why do we need to declare this an invasion? Well, what our resolution does is give State Governors more powers to defend themselves. If the Federal Government is not doing their job, then it would make sense that the Governors would have the right to defend themselves, to defend the people of their States.
Let me explain a little bit further. I am a physician; I am not an attorney, definitely not a constitutional lawyer. But fortunately for all of us, the Constitution was written, for the most part, by common people just like us so that common people like us could read it and understand it.
So what does the Constitution say about an invasion? Remember, everybody up here swore an oath to defend that Constitution. Members of Congress, the White House, the President, we have all sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution.
This is what the Constitution says in article IV, section 4: It promises that the Federal Government ``shall protect each [State] against Invasion.'' This is a constitutional law that the Federal Government shall protect each State against invasion.
Now, we have already established that the Federal Government has not done its job with this invasion of 10 million people that has already occurred. I don't think anyone can argue that point out there.
But, fortunately, our forefathers anticipated such an incidence that someday we would have a President who didn't love this country, didn't recognize that we have a sovereign border, and would indeed allow some 10 million people illegally across our border, so they have in the Constitution from article I, section 10, clause 3: The States have sovereign interest in protecting their borders.
So if the Federal Government doesn't do its job, the States have the ability--the constitutional right--to protect their borders.
This is the last point I will make from the Constitution, and maybe this is a little tricky, but the Constitution goes on to say in clause 3 of section 10 of article I:
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress . . . engage in War, unless actually invaded.
Let me say that again:
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress . . . engage in War, unless actually invaded.
That is why we are here today. The Senate needs to declare that our southern border has actually been invaded to empower the Governor of Texas to protect his people.
Look, this invasion has occurred. We have established that. To say otherwise, to say this is not an invasion, I think, would be a false statement for anybody.
The President has not done his constitutional duty. We have established that. Thus, we must invoke and concur with the Governor of Texas that an actual invasion has occurred. And the Governor of Texas, Governor Abbott, has not just a moral responsibility but the constitutional right to invoke his power and authority to do everything in his capability to protect the good people of Texas.
I commend and compliment Operation Lone Star. They have come up with more than 35,000 felony charges. They have seized over 450 million lethal doses of fentanyl. Again, 450 million lethal doses of fentanyl-- that is enough to kill every man, woman, and child in America more than once.
That is why I am here today, to lend my support and my hope that the entire unanimous consent and support of the Senate would be with the Governor of Texas and the good people of Texas.
Res. 543, which is at the desk. I further ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
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