Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake pledged to declare an invasion if she is elected and seize the federal government’s border wall materials left in the state and complete the wall.
“This is the biggest invasion we’ve ever had on our homeland since the founding of this country,” Lake told Fox News in an interview published on Saturday. “And so we’re going to call it what it is.”
“We’re going to be invoking our inherent powers under Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution to defend ourselves from the invasion in lieu of the federal government reneging on their guarantees to protect us under the Guarantee Clause, Article IV, Section 4,” she added.
“So we will issue a declaration of invasion, and we will take on those powers that are granted to us in the U.S. Constitution, and we will take care of the problem at our border,” Lake said.
In an April interview with Real America’s Voice, Lake elaborated, “Our U.S. Constitution in Article IV, Section 4 requires that the federal government protect us. It’s the Guarantee Clause. They are not doing that.”
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“There’s a remedy right there in that brilliant document, the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 10,” Lake explained. “If there’s imminent danger, we the states can protect ourselves from an invasion.”
“So when I’m governor, after I take my hand off the Bible for the oath of office, I’m going to issue a declaration of invasion,” she said.
Lake also plans to seize the federal government’s unused border wall materials.
“The federal government canceled the contracts and left the materials sitting there on the border. So we’re going to redefine them as abandoned, take them back and use them to complete the wall,” she told Fox. “I want to complete President [Donald] Trump’s border wall project.”
“The federal government canceled the contracts & the materials sitting there on the border. So we’re going to redefine them as abandoned, take them back & use them to complete the wall, I want to complete President Trump’s border wall project.” pic.twitter.com/ILu9BVCIzq
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) August 22, 2022
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued a legal opinion in February declaring that the border crisis does constitute an invasion. He cited the activity of armed cartels and gangs “smuggling unauthorized aliens and large quantities of drugs outside of authorized ports of entry and also engaging in acts of violence in pursuit of their objectives” as part of the invasion.
NEW: Two days in a row, CBP agents at the port of entry in Nogales, AZ seized colored fentanyl pills from smugglers w/ a “candy like” appearance.
Today: 15,000 pills
Yesterday: 250,000 pills
CBP says could be the start of a new trend w/ cartels targeting younger users. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/Qri07B5jDO— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 18, 2022
Lake’s declaration of an invasion would undoubtedly get challenged in federal court as was the Arizona law SB 1070, passed during then-President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010.
That statute made it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and a violation of state law for illegal immigrants to be employed in Arizona. Further, SB 1070 empowered police to arrest those in the country illegally.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in Arizona v. United States that federal law preempted state law regarding immigration enforcement.
Three conservative justices — Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — dissented, with Scalia arguing that SB 1070 does not contradict federal law, but merely enforces it more effectively.
With three new conservative justices on the court since 2012 — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — Lake’s declaration of an invasion would potentially allow the Supreme Court to revisit what authority states have to protect their citizens from the effects of lax border enforcement by the federal government.
Lake has posted a detailed immigration and border plan on her campaign website. In addition to finishing Trump’s border wall, the plan includes enhancing the Arizona National Guard presence beyond what current Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has done and restoring the Arizona Rangers as a state law enforcement arm and charging them with securing the border from cartels.
Is the U.S. being invaded?
Additionally, the candidate said she would instruct the National Guard to return illegal immigrants across the border to Mexico using the state’s Article I authority under the U.S. Constitution.
Customs and Border Protection data shows that 259,895 migrants have been apprehended illegally crossing into the U.S. in the Yuma sector in fiscal year 2022, which is about a 247 percent increase compared with the same period in fiscal year 2021.
In the Tucson sector, there have been 211,714 apprehensions, a 35 percent increase.
SMUGGLER TACTICS! People that enter illegally into the #USA, will often use extraordinary tactics to evade detection & arrest. Kudos to #ElPaso Sector #Santateresa agents for interdicting 3 migrants wearing #ghillie suits to blend into the southern #NewMexico desert terrain. @CBP pic.twitter.com/fDXWkYfQzd
— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) August 18, 2022
The New York Post reported that the U.S. is on track for over 2 million apprehensions on the southwest border by the end of the fiscal year next month, an all-time high.
A version of this article originally appeared on Patriot Project.
