Four more Texas counties declare invasion at southern border, support Gov. Abbott's plan

The judges and commissioners of four more Texas counties have declared an invasion at the southern border: Frio, Karnes, La Salle and Medina.

The judges of these counties also joined a new coalition led by newly elected Atascosa County Judge Weldon Cude in an effort to urge other counties to declare an invasion and defend the sovereignty of Texas.

Cude was among 87 judges who were newly elected in November. Prior to his election, Atascosa County was among the first to issue a disaster declaration in 2021 and declared an invasion in 2022.

When Cude came into office in January, he couldn’t understand why more counties hadn’t declared an invasion, he told The Center Square in an exclusive interview.

“Why wouldn’t you declare an invasion?” Cude asked. “If you have people from all over the world coming into your county by bus, plane, or smuggling people and drugs, why wouldn’t you declare an invasion?

“It’s important when you have millions coming across your southern border. What is it – if it isn’t an invasion?”

Prior to being elected county judge, Cude was elected to serve for six terms as county commissioner representing a majority Hispanic population in a rural area south of San Antonio that largely votes Republican.

At an orientation for judges in February, he met newly elected Kinney County Judge John Paul Schuster, who described the crisis his county was facing. He and Schuster then started reaching out to other judges, and now four more counties have declared an invasion.

They also formed a coalition with other judges in contiguous counties “to promote the common goal of safety, security, and well-being of their residents” and to “support each other to stop the ongoing crisis by all legal means.”

With the signing of a new resolution, the judges and commissioners of Frio, Karnes, La Salle and Medina declared an invasion.

The movement to declare an invasion was led by Kinney County, which first issued a disaster declaration April 21, 2021. Since then, over 50 counties have issued disaster declarations citing the border crisis.

Next, Kinney, Goliad and Terrell counties declared an invasion July 5, 2022. They were soon followed by Edwards and Presidio counties. By January 2023, at least 42 counties had declared an invasion. On the one year anniversary of declaring an invasion, officials from Kinney, Goliad and Terrell counties called on other counties to also declare an invasion.

Officials from the four new counties signed the same resolution, entitled, “A resolution calling for additional measures to secure the border, stop the invasion at the border, and protect our communities.”

It states that the U.S. Constitution “outlines the chief responsibility of the Federal Government to ‘insure domestic tranquility’ and ‘provide for the common defense.’” It cites Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against invasion.” It also cites Article IV, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution, which gives the governor of Texas the legal authority as commander in chief to “have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the state, to suppress insurrections, and to repel invasions.”

The resolution also states that “cartels exploit weak and unsecure borders for their own power and profit, to the detriment of our communities” and “act as paramilitary, narco-terrorist organizations that profit from trafficking people and drugs into the United States.”

It also affirms that Gov. Greg Abbott is using “legal authority vested by the Texas Constitution to secure the border,” and the “ongoing border security crisis is not acceptable, and has resulted in a security threat and humanitarian disaster with overwhelming consequences to residents in the state of Texas.”

“Our counties are in a crisis,” Cude told The Center Square. “We absolutely have a right to defend ourselves under the U.S. and Texas Constitution and will. And we 100% support Gov. Greg Abbott and Operation Lone Star.”

So far, the 46 counties that have declared an invasion include: Atascosa, Burnet, Chambers, Clay, Collin, Ector, Edwards, Ellis, Fannin, Franklin, Frio, Goliad, Hamilton, Hardin, Harrison, Hood, Hunt, Jack, Jasper, Johnson, Karnes, Kinney, La Salle, Lavaca, Leon, Liberty, Live Oak, Madison, McMullen, Medina, Montague, Navarro, Orange, Parker, Presidio, Shackelford, Somervell, Terrell, Throckmorton, Tyler, Van Zandt, Waller, Wharton, Wichita, Wilson, and Wise.