The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | Border Security Rally to Be Held in Texas, Demand Lawmakers Act

Episode Date: April 17, 2023

Thousands of Americans are expected to gather April 29 in Austin, Texas, for a rally calling on state lawmakers to secure the southern border.  “I actually expect this to be the biggest border event in the history of the country,” Mark Meckler, president of the Convention of States and a founder of the tea party movement, tells “The Daily Signal Podcast.” The goal of the rally is “to push the Texas legislature and the Texas governor into action,” Meckler says, since President Joe Biden and his Department of Homeland Security have failed to act to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. The event, which aims to draw 50,000 attendees, is called “How Many More?” and seeks to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis at the southern border. Meckler joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about the mission of the April 29 rally and what to know before attending the event.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the DailySitville podcast for Monday, April 17th. I'm Virginia Allen. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 29th. On that day, thousands of people are gathering at the Texas State Capitol in Austin to call on elected leaders to secure the southern border. The event is called How Many More and calls on elected leaders to consider how many more Americans must die from fentanyl poisoning, How many more American dollars must flow to Mexican cartels and their Chinese money launderers?

How many more illegal immigrants must be raped, drowned, murdered, and see their children sold into slavery? Speakers at the event include Texas Representative Chip Roy, former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan, and president of the Convention of States, Mark Meckler. And today, Mark Meckler is joining the show to decide. discuss not only why this event is important in taking a step to demand border security, but to also explain what the founding fathers would likely say about America's border crisis. Stay tuned for our conversation after this. Conservative women, conservative feminists.

It's true. We do exist. I'm Virginia Allen, and every Thursday morning on problematic women, Lauren Evans and I sort through the news to bring you stories that are of particular interest to conservative leaning or problematic women. That is women whose views and opinions are often excluded or mocked by those on the so-called feminist left. We talk about everything from pop culture to politics and policy. Search for problematic women wherever you get your podcasts.

And we are also problematic on social media. So be sure to follow us on Instagram. We are joined today by Mark Meckler. He is the president of the convention. of States. Mr. Meckler, thanks for being here. Hey, thank you for having me. So we are talking today about an issue that honestly has become increasingly important to every single American across the country, and that's our southern border.

We're seeing right now just mass numbers, record numbers of individuals who are coming across the southern border illegally. And a lot of individuals are pointing to the policies of the Biden administration for being responsible for this. How is what is happening at the southern border affecting not only states on the border like Texas and Arizona, but states all across the country? Well, you know, I can speak specifically to Texas and all across the country. I live just outside of Austin, north of Austin, and the hill country. And I can tell you from talking to sheriffs all over the state, from talking to hospital administrators, talking to educators, talking to educators all across state, everybody's being overwhelmed by the influx.

of illegal aliens. We have a humanitarian and national security crisis on our southern border. And I think, I know you've been to Arizona recently, but I'll tell you, living here in Texas, we know that Texas is the primary gateway into the United States. And I would say, well, there is certainly frustration with our national government on this issue. In Texas, there's a lot of frustration with the Texas government. Texas are known for being a little bit wild about being Texas.

we say Texas is the biggest and the best. And you occasionally hear people say crazy stuff about Texas seceding. But I think in this case what we're talking about, Texas is not going to secede from the nation. Texas is going to save the nation. And so that's what we're trying to do is try to get folks engaged in pushing the Texas government to do everything it can do to take care of the problem on our southern border. So, Mark, one of the ways that you all are pushing for that is you're holding a rally on April 29th

at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. Explain what exactly is happening here. Yeah, you know, it's funny because when we first started talking about this idea, I was very hesitant. I come out of the Tea Party movement. I've done a lot of rallies in my day, you know, including rallies with tens to a million plus people in Washington, D.C. And oftentimes rallies are a great gathering point. People have fun, but they don't accomplish anything. And so I was a little bit hesitant on this. But what I feel is that there is a movement growing in the United States of America. And there's a particular cadence to movements. And I can say that as somebody who was part of the Tea Party movement and help lead that, I can say that as somebody leading the Convention of States Movement. Basically, movements are

not created by any individual or even group of individuals. They exist in the psyche, in the hearts and minds of the American people. And then there's some sort of pivot point that causes that movement to coalesce. And then if it's successful, it has a go forward mechanism. So in this case, I would argue, and you've been living this story, man, it doesn't matter where you go in the United States, whether you're in Maine and we're seeing problems on our northern border now, whether you're in Texas or Arizona or California, people are really upset about this issue. And so that sort of national psychological state exists. People are frustrated. They don't know what to do. And so what we're trying to do is create a pivot point. And our intent is to gather my goal is a minimum of 50,000

people at the state capital in Texas trying to put together the largest rally ever here in Texas. Texas. We have Ted Nugent has agreed to headline and open with his iconic national anthem. We've got a lot of national figure speaking, Tom Holman, former director of ICE is coming, Lara Logan's coming. We'll have a lot more being announced. We're in discussion with a lot of folks to come. We're working with all the grassroots groups in the state of Texas, and there's a lot of them, and we're friendly with all of them. We're working with grassroots groups all across the country. I actually expect this to be the biggest border event in the history of the country. The goal, to push the Texas legislature and the Texas governor into action.

And the rally is titled, How Many More? Why are you all calling this the How Many More Rally? You know, we really struggled with what to call this and what would be the appropriate name. And, you know, is it a rebellion or people just angry? And really what we realized is the question kept coming up is how many more people have to die of fentanyl poisoning in the United States of America before we actually take this seriously? How many more dead? migrants do ranchers in Texas have to find on their ranches. It's like it's a permanent morgue down there these days. How many more people have to die in cartel violence? How many more young girls and young women have to be sold into sexual slavery? How many women have to be raped on their transit

through Central and South America and into the United States? And so there were so many subjects, so many humanitarian crisis and national security crisis tied up in the idea of this national security and humanitarian situation on the border, that we thought an open-ended tagline, like how many more was really the best way to describe what's going on down there. And when you say that you're talking about action, you're talking about policy change, what is the recommendation? What do you all want to see happen specifically in Texas since that's where so much of your focus is right now?

There's a whole list of things that we'll be announcing prior to the rally and at the rally, but one of them is there is a bill now moving in the Texas legislature's sponsor. by Representative Matt Schaefer. The Speaker of the House of Dave Phelan says he's behind it. It's HB20. The details are still being flushed out. But HP20 essentially creates a Texas border protection unit. And this is really important that we make a distinguishment here between doing immigration enforcement,

which the state of Texas is not authorized to do under USV Arizona. I think that's an incorrect decision, but that's where the state of the law is now. And actually repelling an invasion. Our governor has officially declared that this is an invasion. I think it'd be foolish to call it anything else. It's an invasion on many levels. It's invasion by criminal cartels. It's an invasion of people coming across the border that have nefarious intent.

They're not all from Central and South America. We see people coming in from all over the world. It is an invasion at our southern border. And Texas has the right to repel that invasion. And one of the ways we're going to do that, we're hoping is by the creation specifically of a border protection unit. probably under the Department of Public Safety here in Texas, and they will be tasked with making sure that folks who are coming across with nefarious intent

are sent back. They are repelled across the border. So this essentially is the answer to the fact that, you know, technically the federal government is their job to secure our borders. But you all are saying, since that's not happening, this is the answer. Look, if we don't insist on this, then ultimately what happens, and I'm sad to say this is we all become complicit in the humanitarian and national security crisis. And there are things we can do.

There are other things that the governor can do too. I think it's important that the governor use all financial means at his disposal here in Texas, potentially seizing bank accounts. The governor controls the state highways. So one thing that is potentially being discussed is the governor shutting down the highways on the northern side of the border. The governor doesn't control the physical board. border crossing stations themselves, but he does control the highways immediately on this side of the border. And he has in the past temporarily shut down those crossings to get the government of

Mexico to act appropriately. So we're looking for him to use the full scope of his authority and power, and we're asking the legislature to do the same. What do you think our founding fathers would say if they could see the situation playing out at our southern border today? Well, I think they'd be horrified, but I think there's also a little known historical fact, which is originally the states were always responsible for enforcing their own borders. If you go back to the founding era of the country, go back to 1789 after the Constitution's ratified, while the responsibility for securing our borders falls squarely on the shoulders of the federal government. It was just not possible for them to secure the borders.

The country was vast. The federal government was small. And so it fell to the states to defend themselves against foreign powers and invaders, sometimes with the help of the federal government, but usually by themselves. So I think this is in keeping with the historic precedent of our country, understanding that states have to take care of themselves where the federal government cannot or will not. You know, one of the things that we hear when individuals talk about the border, and especially from even Border Patrol agents, we'll hear this, is, you know, we don't necessarily need new laws. We just need the authority to be able to enforce the laws that are already on the books. To what extent do you think that is true versus maybe there are new laws that we need?

Yeah, I mean, I would argue it's a little bit of both, but I would also argue at this time in history, you're expecting the federal government to act is kind of a fool's errand. I would say we hope, and we're going to be pushing and working with the Texas delegation to put restrictions in place, perhaps riders on particular bills that say no money for X, Y, or Z until we secure our southern border. So I think the Texas delegation is one of the largest delegations in the House of Representatives has some ability to flex their muscle, and we hope and expect they'll do that. This administration has shown itself relatively unwilling to do anything serious on our southern border or on our northern border for that matter.

So what we believe is we have to do what the citizens of this country have always done, which is take matters into our own hands and not rely on the federal government to protect us. We as Texans have the ability. We have the statutory power. We have the constitutional power to do what it takes. to address this humanitarian and national security crisis. So, Mark, if I want to attend this rally on April 29th,

where can I go to find more information? And also, what should I expect if I show up at the Texas state capital on the 29th? Yeah, so you can go to How Manymore.com, and that's where you'll see all the updates on the rally. What you should expect is a serious event talking about the problems plaguing our state and the nation because of our open southern border. you should also expect a lot of very law-abiding friendly folks. And when folks who I know in the movement,

all these grassroots organizations get together when these speakers, you're not going to see an unruly crowd. You're not going to see an angry crowd doing damage. What you're going to see is law-abiding citizens. In fact, I'd make a prediction when the event's over, it will be cleaner than before we got there. And before we let you go, would you just share a little bit about the Convention of States,

what you all do and what your mission is? Sure, Convention of States is about self-governance, really. The goal is to use Article 5 of the Constitution to call a convention to take power away from the federal government and give it back to the people and the states. It takes 34 states, two-thirds of states, to call a convention. So far, 19 states have done that. There are millions of activists involved all over the country right now. Excellent.

Well, we encourage all of our listeners, go ahead, check out the Convention of States and how many more rally. Again, it's taking place in Austin, Texas on April 29th. That's a Saturday. Mr. Meckler, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate you joining and sharing a little bit about the grassroots work that you all are doing in Texas to call attention to the border crisis. Thank you for having me.

And again, if you want to learn more about this event on April 29th, you can visit How Manymore.com. That's going to do it for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Daily Signal podcast. If you haven't had a chance to check out our evening show right here in this podcast feed, you can do so around 5 p.m. today. We bring you the top news of the day, so you stay informed on all the news that you care about. Also, make sure to subscribe to The Daily Signal wherever you like to listen to podcast, and take a moment to leave us a five-star reading and review. Thanks again for joining us today, and we'll see you right back here at 5 p.m.

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