Governor Gianforte: Joe Biden’s Left Our Country Completely Vulnerable

Joins governors in support of Texas’ fight to defend southern border

• January 25 2024

HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today joined 24 other governors in a joint call to President Joe Biden to honor a state’s constitutional right to self-defense in response to the national security crisis at the southern border.

“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” the governors wrote. “Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Biden administration could continue removing parts of a barrier established by Texas to keep migrants from crossing into the state.

They continued, “We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.”

Highlighting their concern with the Biden administration’s failure to honor its constitutional responsibilities, the governors concluded, “The authors of the U.S. Constitution made clear that in times like this, states have a right of self-defense, under Article 4, Section 4 and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.”

Since President Biden took office in January 2021, over 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Governor Gianforte has taken several steps in response to the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border:

• Gov. Gianforte led a group of 25 governors to demand answers from the President on who is entering the country illegally and where they are relocating. The governors have yet to receive a response.

• Gov. Gianforte joined the American Governors’ Border Strike Force, a collaborative effort established among 26 states to secure the border. Among other focuses, the strike force is working to improve coordination and communication to combat the trafficking of illegal drugs.

• Gov. Gianforte increased penalties for drug trafficking, including the trafficking of fentanyl, and increased penalties for human trafficking. Since 2019, Montana has experienced an 11,000 percent increase in fentanyl seizures. Since 2015, the Montana Department of Justice has tracked an 871 percent increase in human trafficking cases in Montana.

• Gov. Gianforte deployed Montana National Guard troops to the southern border to support Customs and Border Protection officers.