Texas county ratifies invasion declaration, as sheriff warns of cartel control of migrant flows

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'Enormous' group of migrants crosses border into Texas

Fox News' Bill Melugin reports from Eagle Pass, Texas, where migrants continue to cross the border in large numbers.

A Texas county this week ratified a declaration that the crisis at the southern border is an "invasion," part of a growing push by some border officials to make a state-wide declaration -- as the county’s sheriff warns of the control that cartels have of the migrant flows.

Goliad County was one of a number of counties who last week declared the crisis an invasion. This week the county’s commissioners court ratified the declaration, which urges Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to make a declaration for the state.

A number of Republican officials and lawmakers at the state and national levels have described the crisis as an invasion -- citing the amount of deadly drugs like fentanyl coming into the U.S., as well as the massive number of migrants.

The officials and lawmakers have argued that declaring an invasion allows the state governments in Arizona, Texas and elsewhere to expand powers and remove illegal immigrants from the country. Gov. Greg Abbott recently used the word "invasion" in an executive order authorizing the return of migrants to the border, but it was not an explicit invasion declaration.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS BACK TEXAS COUNTIES' ‘INVASION’ DECLARATION IN RESPONSE TO BORDER CRISIS 

A group of migrants is led out of the brush and to a main road near Hidalgo, Texas by Texas National Guard.  ((Tyler Olson/Fox News))

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, who will represent Goliad County if re-elected next year, backed the county’s move with a formal statement of support -- in which he described the Biden administration as "derelict in their duty to protect and secure our homeland."

"The Biden administration continues to shrug off Americans' calls for increased border security while criminal cartels exploit and attack our nation," Cloud told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Texas has a right to defend itself, and Goliad has my full support in declaring an invasion."

Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd told Fox News Digital that the situation has become increasingly worse in recent months, and pointed to the ubiquitous presence of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations that are organizing the human and drug smuggling.

"It's organized transnational criminal activity, and it's an invasion just based off of the sheer volume of humanity coming through," he said.

"The cartel is pushing an ever-growing number of people through and into our jurisdiction," he said. "And we can't just stand idly by and allow it to happen."

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Boyd stressed not only the impact of the crisis on the community, but also on the migrants themselves -- who he said often discover once they get into the U.S. that they are placed into indentured servitude to buy back their freedom.

TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT AUTHORIZES LAW ENFORCEMENT TO RETURN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO BORDER

"They've entered into an agreement with the cartel to knowingly illegally come into our country, to trespass and then are involved in other crimes along the way. And so then they get to Houston and a cartel tells them, ‘Oh, yes, you owe us another $10,000.’"

He described appalling situations in which migrants are living in one-bedroom apartments packed with 20 people, and are forced onto an eight to 13-year path to buy their freedom back. He accused the U.S. government of encouraging the exploitation and predicted that there would be dire consequences if the situation was allowed to continue.

"Everybody's made in the image of God, and nobody has the right to put somebody into bondage," he said. "But we find ourselves in the situation where…our government is encouraging the importation of a peon class that lives in the shadows."

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"As human beings made in the image of God, our rights don't come from the government. Our rights come from our Lord and Savior," he said. "And so these people at some point will rise up and demand their freedom, and they will demand that they receive the opportunity of the American Dream. And when they do, that very well may be a very violent uprising. And as Americans, as the Bible says, we will reap what we sow and woe to us for what we've allowed to happen in this country -- because it's a sin against God and it is a sin against humanity and we cannot have this going on in our country if we wish to continue to be a free state that falls under the favor of the Lord."