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A group of Republican lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation that would give the National Guard the power to use deadly force against “armed invaders” crossing the southern border into the United States.
The bill, titled “An Act to Defend Our Borders Against Armed Invaders,” was introduced by Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, and has been referred to the Armed Services Committee.
The legislation, if passed, would authorize the National Guard to take “such actions as may be necessary to repel persons attempting to enter the United States from Mexico who are carrying weapons, and for other purposes,” according to a description of the bill. Of law. The full text of the legislation has not been made public.
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Luttrell, a former Navy SEAL, said in a statement that the legislation is necessary to stop cartels and smugglers that are thriving on the “open border.”
“We are seeing violent crime continually increase at the border and flow into our communities as President Biden’s policies have created an unsustainable national security crisis,” Luttrell said.
“This legislation is a step in the right direction to curb this crime by giving the National Guard the power to prevent these armed individuals from crossing into the United States by any means necessary.”
Cartel members and human traffickers are known to use weapons to transport illegal immigrants across the southern border, as well as drugs.
In August, Fox News obtained footage showing suspected cartel gunmen crossing the U.S. southern border in Texas wearing bulletproof vests and carrying rifles. It is the same area where law enforcement arrested five alleged members of the Northeast Cartel in June.
The Fox News drone also captured footage of machete-wielding smugglers last summer beating and threatening migrants on the riverbank in Matamoros, Mexico, telling them to cross to Brownsville, Texas.
The Biden administration has taken several steps, including a collaborative law enforcement anti-smuggling campaign in 2022 that resulted in thousands of arrests, to combat cartel smuggling. He has also made more than 170 sanctions designations on cartel leaders and members, often working with Mexico to do so.
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Luttrell’s move also comes as Texas is embroiled in a multi-front legal fight with the federal government over how to stem the unprecedented flow of illegal immigrants.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott seized state property along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, known as Shelby Park, while the Biden administration won a Supreme Court decision allowing the Border Patrol to cut barbed wire that built the state. Texas has continued to fortify the border and has also indicated that it will not comply with the administration’s demands to vacate the Shelby Park area.
“(President Biden’s) actions have led to an unprecedented invasion that we must defend against,” Abbott said Thursday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal year 2023 shows that the number of illegal immigrants on non-detained docket has skyrocketed from 3.7 million in fiscal year 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in fiscal year 2022 and nearly 6.2 million in fiscal year 2023.
The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Chuck Fleischman, R-Tenn., Chuck Edward, R-N.C., Brian Babin, R-Texas, Michael Guest, R-Mississippi, Mike Collin, Ga., and Brandon William. R.N.Y.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Griff Jenkins and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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