Governor Kathy Hochul must use our National Guard to protect New York’s northern border.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported last week that there has been a whopping 240% increase in unknown people illegally crossing into New York and the United States at our northern border since 2022. While this total number, about 12,200 last year, pales in comparison to those coming from the South, Hochul still needs to act for our safety and security.
Officials know exactly where most of these illegal entries are coming from so Hochul can deploy the National Guard to stop this before it gets even worse, and we know it will. One must only look at all the recent violence committed by those in our state illegally to see how New Yorkers’ safety and security is threatened. Our police officers are attacked with impunity and every day there seems to be another video clip of an innocent New Yorker being beaten or robbed by one of these illegal migrants.
Hochul has long tried to show herself as a “moderate” Democrat caring about public safety through her words, but when it comes to real action she falls short for fear of angering the progressive far-left crazies that drive her Democratic Party. So, here is an opportunity for her to put her money where her mouth is and stand up for public safety.
Most Democrats, including those that attack Governor Abbott in Texas for securing his borders with state resources, claim using a militia to defend a state is an exclusive responsibility of the national government. To them, open borders are preferable. Although Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution lays out restrictions for the use of a state militia, it does state that all bets are off if a state is “invaded” or in “imminent danger.” Certainly, most fair-minded Americans would refer to what is happening at our borders as an “invasion” and that the vicious attacks on cops and innocent New Yorkers are an “imminent danger.”
Significantly, almost all of Article I lays out many of the new specific powers granted to the national government to overcome its powerlessness under the Articles of Confederation. By including circumstances that states can use their militia in this Article makes it even more clear that the F framers of our Constitution did not completely prohibit the use of our National Guard to defend our state borders.
When courts must determine whether an action violates a law or the Constitution they often look to the intent of the law. One way to do this is to look at the deliberations by the lawmakers or framers of the Constitution. Indeed, according to the Journal Notes of the Virginia Ratification Convention Proceedings on June 16, 1788, John Marshall, who, in fact, was a strong proponent of a stronger national government to address the inherent weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, even sided with the right of states to use their militia to defend themselves.
Marshall, during the debates about this issue, said that States “had power to command and govern their militia before, and have it still, undeniably… To me it appears then unquestionable, that the State Governments can call forth the militia, in case the Constitution should be adopted, in the same manner as they could have done before its adoption…When invaded, they can engage in war, as also when in imminent danger. This clearly proves, that the States can use the militia when they find it necessary.”
Governor Hochul must finally decide if she is going to be a “moderate” committed to public safety or continue to be part of the progressive left that believes in open borders despite its threat to our state and nation. Close the northern border.
Bob Capano, a Brooklyn resident, has been a Professor of Political Science for over 15 years and was District Director to former Republican members of Congress Bob Turner and Vito Fossella.
