Statement from Matt Spalding on the Constitution and the Texas Border Crisis

For my weekly column, I reached out to ask for a comment from Matt Spalding of Hillsdale College (D.C.) chapter on the Constitution and the Texas Border crisis. On 1/26/24, Dr. Spalding sent me an email with this statement:

“Under the Constitution, the federal government guarantees ‘to protect each of [the states] from Invasion’ at the same time that it restricts the states from doing things associated with self-defense ‘unless actually invaded.’  At what point does the sheer number of drugs, weapons, and criminals crossing an uncontrolled border—this can no longer be called merely immigration—amount to an invasion?  The federal government may have plenary authority over immigration, but individual states have a duty to defend their citizens and property when the federal government abdicates its responsibility to protect those states.”

Matthew Spalding | Vice President for Washington Operations, Dean, Steve & Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government, Hillsdale College | Washington, D.C. Campus

Note: Dr. Spalding, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, was the Executive Editor of the massive 2005 book, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, for which Edwin Meese III served as the chairman of the editorial advisory board.