SO YOU THOUGHT NULLIFICATION WAS SOMETHING FROM THE PAST? NOT IN "SANCTUARY CITIES"!

Nullification is usually associated with John C. Calhoun (1782 - 1850), a South Carolinian, who served as a congressman, senator, secretary of state, secretary of war and vice-president.  If those of the millennial generation were asked to identify Calhoun these days, it is likely that the great majority would be at a loss. However, I digress.

It was Calhoun's thesis that the states, as equal parties in forging the compact that created the United States of America, should be the judges as to the constitutionality of laws affecting them. Essential to the understanding of nullification is that Calhoun saw it as a means of protecting minority views, in this instance those that bolstered Southern attitudes on states rights and unreasonable tariffs. As many of us of a certain age know, nullification and its ramifications played a part in bringing the United States to the domestic conflict that may be called variously the Civil War, or the War Between the States.

Since more than 600,000 individuals lost their lives in the conflict which plagued America from 1861-1865, with the South coming out on the losing end, one would think that such concepts as nullification would be moot.  And this is especially so, given the Supreme Court decision in White v. Texas (1869) in which secession was ruled out of bounds for any and all states within the Union. However, if you thought nullification was a dead issue, you have another think coming.

At last count, the United States has some 340 cities considered to be "sanctuary cities," that is municipalities which do not cooperate with the federal enforcement of immigration law.  The city in which I reside on the U.S./Mexican border, Brownsville, Texas, is counted among their number; and, for this reason, is home to countless illegals who do not wish to risk encountering Border Patrol agents further to the north.  In a surreal incident last year, illegal alien women in Brownsville held a demonstration, protesting that they could not reach abortion clinics located outside of south Texas, owing to Border Patrol checkpoints on major highways.  But, be that as it may, the sanctuary cities are in effect practicing de facto nullification by their failure to cooperate with federal authorities in the matter of immigration enforcement.

And, yes, dear readers this is a very serious situation.  There are about 4.5 million illegal immigrant drivers in the U.S., most without official driving licenses and insurance.  Representative S. King (N.Y.) estimates that 13 Americans are killed daily in our country by illegal alien drunk drivers.  Do the math. That comes to more than 4,600 per year!  And, please do compare those figures with our losses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just a few Americans who have died at the hands of illegals

It is difficult to get a full accounting of felonies committed in the U.S. by illegals, largely because of political considerations.  In other words, state authorities do not have the intestinal fortitude to risk the wrath of the federal government, which has exposed Americans to incredible risks by virtue of its lax border enforcement.  Nevertheless, the best estimate is that more than 4,000 murders are committed each year nationwide by illegal immigrants. An internal study by the Texas Department of Public Safety showed that, between 2008 and 2014,  more than 600,000 felonies resulted from the actions of illegal immigrants,  Of those, 8,000 were sexual assaults and 3,0000 were murders.  In the midst of such mayhem, ICE in 2014, released 30,000 criminal illegals with 79,000 criminal convictions back into American society.

Texas has recently assigned additional units of DPS officers to patrol the border in lieu of effective enforcement by federal authorities.  These efforts are greatly appreciated by those of us who live in border towns.  However, it may be a matter of too little too late, for this is a situation demanding the clout and resources of a federal government which, so far, has been derelict in protecting its own citizens.

What can we do?  The answer would seem obvious inasmuch as a start can be made in letting our solons in Washington know that this is a priority issue.  And, finally, we can still vote in America, and we must vote for those individuals who are calling for a safe border and the protection of citizens from the likes of illegal marauders.  And, as for nullification being practiced by the sanctuary cities, it must as surely be disavowed as it was by the horrible conflagration of the 1860's.

Deo Vindice!

John B. is a retired college and university dean, provost and instructor who lives in Brownsville, Texas, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. More information about John B. may be had via his website:   www.johnbarham.com