U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers arrested nearly three dozen men dressed in camouflage crossing the Mexican border into Arizona last week.
“The Douglas Station’s #Horse Patrol Unit arrested a group of 32 migrants after illegally crossing the border,” Chief Patrol Agent for the Tucson Sector John Modlin announced on Twitter on Friday.
“The 32 Mexican Nationals utilized camouflage clothing to blend into the surrounding vegetation.”
The Douglas Station’s #Horse Patrol Unit arrested a group of 32 migrants after illegally crossing the border near the #AZ / #NM state line. The 32 Mexican Nationals utilized camouflage clothing to blend into the surrounding vegetation. pic.twitter.com/7q1GKsvF9w
— John R. Modlin (@USBPChiefTCA) May 21, 2021
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin shared video of another group of 32 spotted by a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter, also in camouflage, in the Big Bend Sector of western Texas.
“People who cross illegally in this desolate area do not want to be caught and are not surrendering themselves,” Melugin tweeted.
NEW: A group of 32 illegal immigrants dressed in camouflage flees from a @TxDPS helicopter in the remote Big Bend sector, which we just visited last week. People who cross illegally in this desolate area do not want to be caught and are not surrendering themselves. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/8yHiaREHXF
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 23, 2022
Last week, over 30 Republican members of Congress signed a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to fulfill his constitutional duty to defend the U.S. from invasion at the southern border.
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“The United States is experiencing an unprecedented and entirely avoidable crisis along our southern border with Mexico,” Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas wrote in the letter to Biden.
“As head of the Executive Branch, it is your responsibility to uphold Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution and protect Americans from invasion at our southern border.”
Article IV, Section 4 provides, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion.”
Nehls then made the case that the U.S. is currently experiencing an invasion that has led to the deaths of many Americans.
The congressman first pointed to shooting incidents by suspected cartel members involving border agents and Texas National Guard members.
“Border ranchers are experiencing violence firsthand as cartel members, who are dressed in camouflage and carrying weapons to protect their drug loads, march over the border and across their lands. Some ranchers have experienced over 15 armed drug traffickers on their property at one time,” the letter said.
NEW: 31 illegal immigrants dressed in camouflage were found being smuggled in a trailer in Reeves County in west Texas. US citizen driver arrested by @TxDPS with assistance from TX Game Wardens & US Border Patrol. Illegal immigrants referred to Border Patrol. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/u5CZRgW0b5
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) April 27, 2022
The lawmakers further lamented that the record amounts of illicit drugs have resulted in the death of more than 100,000 Americans since Biden took office.
“Due to your failure to uphold your Constitutional duty, states are beginning to interpret whether the Constitution gives them the right to defend themselves,” Nehls wrote.
“Specifically, Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution, known as the State Self-Defense Clause, ‘reserves to the States the sovereign power to repel invasion and defend their citizenry from overwhelming and imminent danger.’”
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued a legal opinion in February concluding his state is being invaded and, therefore, can defend itself, given the federal government has failed to do so.