Skip to Content

Press Releases

Arrington Hosts Press Conference Highlighting Amicus Brief Supporting Texas' Right of Self-Defense

Washington, February 15, 2024
  • 2.15.24 press conference
Washington, D.C. – This week, Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) and his colleagues held a press conference highlighting Arrington’s amicus brief supporting the State of Texas in United States v. Texas. The brief argues in favor of Texas’s Senate Bill 4, which was passed by the Texas legislature and signed into law in December. S.B. 4 makes illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation a state crime, and Arrington’s brief cites that states have the sovereign right to self-defense explicitly stated in Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution. 
 

Click HERE to watch Chairman Arrington’s remarks.

Remarks as Prepared:

 “Thank you for coming today to discuss this important amicus brief that me and 45 of my colleagues filed yesterday – including all 25 members of the Texas Republican Delegation – in support of our Governor and state elected leaders, and the people of Texas. 

Not only is this president and secretary failing to provide for a common defense and refusing to enforce the laws of the land, but they are aggressively obstructing our states’ efforts to protect our citizens from an invasion. Our state leaders have taken a number of measures to defend our border and our citizens through Operation Lonestar, the deployment of razor wire fencing and buoy barriers, to the construction of a state border wall, and now Senate Bill 4 - which makes illegally crossing into Texas a state crime subject to apprehension, detention, and/or deportation.

The DOJ is suing the State of Texas on the legal basis that immigration is solely a federal responsibility. However, Texas is making the argument on the constitutional basis that Article 4, Section 4 states the federal government has failed to protect our state against an invasion, and there’s been an actual invasion on our southern border that has put the citizens of Texas at risk.  The constitution is clear and unequivocal: If a state has actually been invaded OR if there is imminent danger such that will not permit delay, every state has the inherent and sovereign right to self-defense.  

No one in America could argue that what is happening at our southern border is not an invasion or not imminent danger to our citizenry.

There are 2 important things people in Washington need to understand about Texans.

  • We will not play passive victim to a failed federal government, and
  • We will not ask permission from a derelict Commander in Chief or a Secretary of Homeland Security who refuses to enforce the law in order to defend our border and protect our people.  

Yesterday, the House impeached Alejandro Mayorkas for his dereliction of duty, breach of public trust, and the systemic harm inflicted on our country. Regardless of what happens in the Senate, I believe that a conviction is coming in November and not just for Secretary Mayorkas, but for our Commander in Chief and his entire chain of command.”

###