Declaring a War Zone on our Southern Border

By: Christopher B. Kuch, PhD

Under article 1, section 8 of the US constitution the congress has the power to declare war and make rules for the government and regulation of land…and to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union. The congress has enacted laws and regulations about border crossings and immigration. The president under article 2, section 2 is the commander of our armed forces and militias (National Guard units).

The president has a legal responsibility to defend our borders, especially when the southern states have requested federal troops and or agents. They have done just that; California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. This is contained in Section 4, Article 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; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.”

Federal troops have secured the border in the past, starting in 1789 with Mexico. Then in the 1980’s the Department of Defense and National Guard units were dispatched along the border to assist in detecting and detaining drug traffickers on the border.  Once again in 2006, about 6,000 troops were dispatched to the border.

Under Title 32 of the US Code, National Guard units are under the control of the state governors.  To avoid conflicts with the Posse Comitatus Act (which prohibits the military to act as law enforcement officers within the US) we need a full declaration of war by congress.  This would enable the president to authorize military forces to operate, protect, and defend the southern border.

After which, we can demand NATO allies to join us in protecting our border just like we protect theirs in Europe. If a NATO ally does not send troops, we simply close our bases in their country, bring our troops home and station them on the border.  Then we do not help those countries that do not send troops here in the future.  Our southern border is out of control and we already have thousands and thousands of armed federal employees ready to secure it.  They are called American armed forces personnel.

We can talk about hiring tens of thousands of more border patrol agents, but we cannot afford the amount we need.  We already have hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the federal payroll that we can utilize immediately.  All that is needed is for congress to do something like declare war, or by executive action deputizing them as border patrol agents (Kuch, Christopher B. 2015). In addition, we desperately need a president that is willing to secure the southern border from the criminals that have already broken our law by entering our country illegally.

One alternative is for the president to act unilaterally, as he frequently does, and just send troops there after pressuring the southern Border States by withholding federal funds.  He can send them there for 90 days, and then again, and again.  Or he can rule by executive action as he also frequently does by bypassing congress for authorization and just send them there.

It is not that we don’t want Hispanics in our country.  We merely want them to immigrate just like the millions of other immigrants that legally came here.  There is a system. The vast majority of Americans are second, third, and fourth generation immigrants. They should follow our immigration laws just like our ancestors did. If you start out breaking the law, we don’t want or need you here.

Perhaps we should grant parole to our felons from federal prison under the strict condition they must go to Mexico for ten years.  Turn the table on the Mexican government that seems to lack or doesn’t care about the major southern border problem. They too must send more troops and federal police to the border.  We have economic advantages on them that we can use as leverage.

Kuch, Christopher B. “Closing Foreign Bases and Deputizing those Soldiders as U.S. Border Patrol Agents.” Law Enforcement Today. September 3, 2015.

Dr. Kuch holds a PhD, MA, and MS in criminal justice.  He has written about a variety of police issues; federal and local.  His current research is about preventative terrorism policies.  He is a four year Vietnam Era Navy Veteran. He lives in Istanbul, Turkey and is on the adjunct faculty at Galatasaray University.