In an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday morning, Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem warned against calls to federalize the National Guard at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Democrats have been encouraging President Biden to come after our states' rights," Noem told Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures. "For the first time in American history, we would be paying soldiers to stand down and not protect America."
She added: "If he's willing to do that [federalize the National Guard] and take away my authority as governor and commander-in-chief of the National Guard, boy, we do have a war on our hands."
Context:
In January, Texas Democratic Representatives Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar urged Biden to take the state's National Guard under federal control if Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, continued to defy a Supreme Court ruling that allows federal agents to remove razor wire from a section of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The installation of the razor wire was among several aggressive measures the governor has taken in a bid to stop migrants from entering the United States illegally.
"If Abbott is defying yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, President Biden needs to establish sole federal control of the Texas National Guard now," Castro posted on X, formerly Twitter, on January 23.
One day later, Casar backed that call in a post on his X account and wrote in part, "I agree with Joaquin Castro."
What We Know:
State National Guards ordinarily fall under the control of their respective governors, but they can be federalized by a mechanism known as Title 10 status, which places them at the direct disposal of the president and defense secretary, with active-duty officers taking over day-to-day command.
Noem reiterated in her Sunday interview with Bartiromo that her administration is considering boosting its support for Texas' efforts to deter immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, such as sending razor wire and security personnel.
Views:
Nicholas Creel, an assistant professor of business law at Georgia College and State University, wrote recently in a Newsweek opinion article that Republicans are embracing rebellion, and the federal government must respond.
"President Biden must make a primetime national address in the coming days, explaining the situation to the American public and speaking specifically to how Abbott's actions are actually making it more difficult for border patrol agents to do their job. In so doing, he should plead with congressional Republicans to lower the temperature and work with him to legislatively resolve the very real illegal immigration crisis with a bipartisan border bill. The power of the "bully pulpit" combined with a reasonable call for civility and compromise will dramatically weaken Governor Abbott's hand in this standoff and maximize the likelihood that the federal border can be secured," Creel wrote.
Josh Hammer, a Newsweek senior editor-at-large, wrote in a recent opinion column that Texas is correct to defend its sovereignty at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Texas is correct to stand its ground. First, the Supreme Court's order more narrowly permitted Border Patrol agents to remove wire; it said nothing whatsoever about Texas officials' ability to construct new wire. Second, even if there were a direct clash between Texas and the Court, Texas's reliance on an express constitutional provision to declare an "inva(sion)"—and thus assert its unequivocal right to secure its borders—takes precedence over a Supreme Court edict," he wrote.
What's Next:
Over the past few weeks, Republican lawmakers have continued to criticize Biden's policies and the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Biden has signaled that he's open to "massive changes" on border policy, asking Congress to embrace a bipartisan Senate deal that would pair border enforcement measures with aid to Ukraine to help in its ongoing war with Russia.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has indicated that the GOP-led House is unlikely to approve the possible Senate border deal.
Update 2/4/24, 12:44 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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Gabe Whisnant is Deputy Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in South Carolina. Prior to joining Newsweek in 2023, he directed ... Read more
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