Texas use of ‘invasion’ clause against immigrants slammed as racist and dangerous: The Guardian – Reuters

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LONDON — Texas is challenging U.S. federal control of U.S.-Mexico border policy by exploiting what it sees as a constitutional loophole around the definition of an “invasion.” Migrant rights campaigners warned he was dangerously raising fears with racist language, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott invoked ‘invasion’ clauses in the Texas and US constitutions last November, equating migrants at the border with a public enemy alien thereby empowering him to enact its border policies, says the report released on Monday.

The Texas Civil Rights Project called the move a “political ploy.”

“Calling immigrants an invasion is extremely dangerous,” said Roberto Lopez, senior advocacy officer for the organization’s “Beyond the Border” program.

“We’ve seen so many shootings and more hate crimes (against migrants). It all ties into this rhetoric that associates people trying to seek safety with some sort of literal attack on the United States. It gives just a lot of fire and energy to militias and people filled with hate,” Lopez said.

Immigration policy has long been the responsibility of the United States federal government, not individual states since the United States Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case United States v Arizona in 2012.

According to Barbara Hines, a law professor at the University of Texas, the legal language cited by Abbott is not so simple, the justification for the state to create its own immigration laws is “unprecedented and extreme”.

“Federal immigration law is a federal matter. It’s not based on the Texas constitution,” Hines said.

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