The calls for Texas to defend itself and defy the federal government have set fire to a long-simmering fight over states’ rights, emboldening right-wing figures.
Daniel Miller felt encouraged last week, as fears of a new civil war trended online and a coalition of powerful Republicans coalesced behind Gov. Greg Abbott’s standoff with the Biden administration.
As the longtime leader of Texas’ unlikely secessionist movement, Miller has for decades argued that the state is in a stranglehold by the federal government that, eventually, would prompt enough popular support for a vote to leave the union. The past week only reinforced that belief.
"It validates and confirms the position we’ve had all along, which is that if Texas ever wants to truly secure its border … the only way we’re going to do it is as an independent and self-governing nation,” Miller said in an interview.
At issue is the 47-acre Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, where Texas has for months been laying concertina wire along the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing. In a 5-4 decision early last week, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration, allowing U.S. Border Patrol agents to cut the wire to apprehend people who had crossed the river.
The narrowly written decision — which didn’t speak to whether the state had to stop laying new concertina wire — has emboldened Abbott, who vowed to continue his fight against the high court and federal government, citing Texas’ right to defend itself from what he claims is an “invasion” of migrants.
By week’s end — and as the Texas National Guard and state troopers continued to roll out wire and stifle federal agents’ access to much of the park — Abbott’s defiant calls were backed by 25 Republican governors, former President Donald Trump, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and nearly all of Texas’ congressional delegation.
Just let them go- Texas that is. They can build a wall around the entire state, and then stop being such a massive drain on federal funds every time it snows a bit or gets a little sweaty. They can take Florida with them.
I’m not giving the KKK an inch as well as condemning half the states population.
I say we provide free transport to anyone who wants to leave. There are plenty of unclaimed islands to drop them off.
Somebody check Abbott’s high school yearbook, see if he won the vote for “most likely to secede”.
Abbott graduated from Duncanville High School,[5] where he was on the track team,[6] in the National Honor Society and was voted “Most Likely to Succeed”.
from his wikipedia page. I did find this running a search though. Can we make fun of him??
Is that a pink shirt? Seems kinda… girlie?
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It’s a blouse thank you
His other shirt that day got covered in urine from being a little piss baby.
The Moskovites are on an influence campaign again I guess.
Fears of succession?
Fuck 'em. Let 'em fuck around and find the fuck out. Can they take the rest of the alt-right nation with them?
All of this over the status quo (give or take). Just wait until the real climate change migrations state happening. That’s when things really get to pop off.
Won’t that be Texan’s wanting to move north?
well, yeah.
It’s all projection with them. The asylum seekers are invading. because that’s what they think they’re gonna do. ya’know?
Lol do it! 26/38 of their Representatives and both their Senators are Republicans.
Goodbye House majority, goodbye Senate filibuster, goodbye any chance of a Trump victory this year. Even just 1 year of them disappearing means Democrats could get a whole lot done before they start crawling back.
I’m a bit worried that the plan for the secessionists is to do something so spectacular (literally) as to try to cause there to be good reason to “pause to election”.
Just so then, they can prove Biden to be a dictator, and actually have an argument. Pausing an election would be truly unsettling.
So if there is a crisis about Electoral College stating of states close to November, that’s a powder-keg situation.
I’m honestly not claiming we need to avoid this kind of crisis. Just saying be careful what you wish for.
IMO it’s one of the stupider bluffs because no one expects Texas to actually do it and it would hurt them more than it would hurt the rest of the US.
I’m happy to hang out in the “no, you won’t” camp with. But the support the idea of a Texit lately is markedly ramped up. (The idea was never without support.) Part of me kinda suspects that some of the “think tank” minds are worried about losing Texas in the general mostly due to the overturning Roe still hanging over their heads.
If Texas is purple while CA is solid blue, then everyone will hate the Electoral College. The “think tank” conservatives can’t have that.
So I agree, secession is unlikely, but IMO that’s because it isn’t a ballot initiative like Brexit. Not because the people saying it aren’t serious.
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How do you get social security when you are no longer part of the Union? I’m guessing they’re would be a large boarder crossing if Texas was up for grabs. Good luck👍
It’s gonna be fun. When the drug. Carrels realize there is now a whole country they can take over just north of Mexico.
Give em back to Mexico and make sure the “remain in Mexico” policy sticks. Mexico will know what to do.
Laugh when the idea is first mentioned to them, followed by, “wait, you’re serious?” Then more laughter?
Those people are hoping for violence. They believe a war is coming, and that they are poised to win.
texit. texit. texit.
there…i said it three times and they re still here.
In Canada, Alberta has this same notion that they got a raw deal in federalism and that secession is the answer. They are the Texans of the north: conservative, religious, oil-rich, strong capitalist rhetoric (though there is plenty of corporate welfare, of course). But Alberta is a fully landlocked province of a few million people with not much else besides oil. And, get this: they want to secede because they supposedly can’t get any new oil pipelines built to the ocean in Canada. Did I mention that they are landlocked? What a bunch of morons.
'+ oil isn’t exactly the commodity of the future
Calgary and Houston are virtually the same place. Its wild.
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Fully close the border for couple years but also do not bail out any
companies/farmslarge corporations and banks that faildeleted by creator
DEATH TO THE STORMCLOAKS!
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Wouldve been easier if the feds just did their jobs and secured the border. 6 million in 3 years is ridiculous.
You say this as if the Republicans haven’t been obstructing any kind of deal while constantly screaming about the problem, it’s a wedge issue that gives them power over brown folks and something to complain about the Democrats to their base about.
We’d all love for the feds to do something about it, but those performative politics dickheads need to get out of the way for it to happen.
How about all those businesses who hire illegal immigrants have their owners/executives go to jail? See how many farms, construction companies, restaurants, etc. go under. I would guess that many of these owners are registered R as well.
They should get fucked over too.
The US doesn’t run without immigrant labor. See the states who get up in arms about punishing immigrants ending up without labor to pick their crops and build their houses. Also, it’s not incredibly clear why I should be upset about less than 1% of the population per year, many of whom are seasonal workers who are in that six million multiple times because they come, go, and come again.
So you’re okay with fucking over American workers so long as you get cheap food? Still all about that underclass of field laborers, over 160 years later.
American citizens won’t do these jobs. They know where the jobs are… they could stand in line to do them but they don’t.
Correction: They won’t do those jobs at those wages
You won’t buy food that costs what Americans would be willing to work in the fields for.
We could try to cut out the massive food waste and the big cut that goes to corporate management.
We could have been doing that anyway all this time
I don’t know, I kinda like not going hungry.
Personally, I’m ok with the country not becoming insular and isolationist.
You can avoid that without fucking over American workers.
If migrants working fields screwed over American workers, that implies the existence of Americans willing to do that work. In the absence of migrants it doesn’t get done by Americans, it just doesn’t get done. There aren’t Americans interested in doing that work.
Also, it’s pretty fucked up that you’re willing to equate people who were chained up and dragged here to be whipped in fields and watch their children be sold away, to people who want to be here doing this work badly enough to make the risky crossing that some assholes keep making riskier. Frankly, while I can’t speak to their characters in general aside from this one facet, on the matter of coming to America in search of a better life I’d say those people display more of the American spirit than the people trying to keep them out.
Not at those wages. That’s what “stole our jobs” means, they do jobs for less than what Americans will.
And why do you think slavery was so popular? It was cheap labor, just provide minimal food and shelter, and away you go. Same as illegals today.
They also won’t do them at higher wages, because when your crops are rotting in the fields you panic and offer at least minimum wage. Americans came, did it for a day, and were like nah that’s not my scene. Americans do not want those jobs. The migrants didn’t take anything away from Americans. “Stole our jobs” is rhetoric to get people who don’t understand the situation riled up. It’s a slogan, it’s not real. Nobody complaining about stolen jobs is clamoring to get out in those fields, not for migrant wages, not for minimum wage, not for any amount of money that is going to be offered.
Are you aware of the homestead act? If you offer enough compensation, you get farmers.
So what you’re saying is that we need to break up existing large farms and parcel them out to smaller individual farmers? Because I might be on board with that.
6 million in 3 years is ridiculous.
In the immortal words of Ron Burgundy, I don’t believe you.
In 2023 there was 2.05 million encounters with border patrol. Many more were uncaught. In 2022, 2.2 million. In 2021, 1.66 million. Together, thats 5.92 million illegals who were let go. That plus the uncaught ones easily makes 6 million in 3 years
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/29/us/illegal-border-crossings-data.html
