Texas Democratic politicians, such as Rep. Joaquin Castro and failed gubernatorial and Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, are urging President Joe Biden to seize control of the Texas National Guard, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has mobilized to help secure the Texas border.
Abbott did so in the face of the deliberate and intentional inaction by the Biden administration to make sure the border stays open so millions of illegal aliens could continue to flood across from Mexico.
Under the circumstances, any such move by the president would be an abuse of the applicable law.
A number of federal statutes govern the National Guard, which is the modern equivalent of state militias and a reserve component of our military. Under 10 U.S.C. § 12301(a), the secretary of defense (and thus the president) is given the authority in “time of war or of national emergency declared…
