Fox News host Tucker Carlson wants to see all of Texas’s 19,000 National Guard deployed to shut down the border. He wants to know why Abbott won’t do it.
Unfortunately for Abbott, he and the state of Texas do not have unilateral authority to shut down U.S. Customs and Border Protection federal ports of entry, unless granted permission by CBP. At first, he said he would, but then seemed to realize his mistake.
While border closures raise difficult constitutional problems, state and local governments can and have exercised extraordinary powers to stop COVID-19 infections.
“It is largely up to the states themselves to prevent the spread of the disease within their borders, but they have broad ‘police power’ authority under the Constitution to do so,” Heritage Foundation’s John Malcolm told the Washington Free Beacon. “Federal law, including the Stafford Act, provides ample authority to the federal government to assist in that effort,” Free Beacon reports.
It is state and local authorities who hold the balance of power on public health issues in the United States. The exact reach is unknown.
Could Governor Abbott close down the border since we know these people are coming in with COVID and other diseases? States like New York have closed down their borders over COVID but they were very limited in doing it.
We don’t know. Do any of our readers know the answer?
Governor Abbott is being harshly criticized for something he might not be able to legally control. Perhaps he could do more, but so far, he’s the only one doing anything. The culprit here is Joe Biden.
Biden is currently in open defiance of a court order to follow Title 42, the Remain in Mexico policy.
But, don’t worry, Jen Psaki assures us they’re only staying a short while.
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