Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ® on Wednesday accused the federal government of breaking the compact with the states following a Supreme Court ruling on Monday that cleared the way for the Border Patrol to remove razor wire installed by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a statement, Abbott said, “President Biden has refused to enforce [immigration] laws and has even violated them.”
It’s the latest escalation in a legal and political standoff between Texas and the federal government, though Abbott stopped short of announcing any specific measures.
He has been pushing constitutional boundaries on state versus federal jurisdiction of border and immigration enforcement for the better part of two years; his legal team, including state Attorney General Ken Paxton, first publicly toyed with the idea of formally declaring a border “invasion” in April 2022.
I can’t find direct data on how many illegal immigrations are happening in Texas every year, but the undocumented population is estimated to be about 1,5 million, and stable. [source]
Between 2022 and 2023, the legal migrant population increased by 10k, and eligible migrants decreased by 50k. If we assume that the whole difference is only due to illegal immigrants naturalizing, that would mean that the Texas yearly influx of immigrants is 60k. [source]
That would mean that the “invasion” requiring armed self defence/martial law is for 60k civilians.
About 10 million Texans yearly travel over 50 miles, [source], does that mean Texas is invading most of the US annually?
(also, it’s ridiculous that you don’t have clear data and statistics on this exact question. Sometimes I love living in the EU)
50 miles won’t even get you out of Texas in most of Texas. The rest of what you said is fine though.
Given how most Texans drive their compensating trucks, 50 miles feels like 2500.
50 miles might not even get you from one county to another. Land mass size Texas is close to the whole of Europe.
That is so wrong, you must be from the US.
Texas Landmass: 261,232 sq mi (676,587 km2)
Europe: 3,930,000 sq mi -> Europe is 15x the Size of Texas.
Size of European Countries
TLDR: Texas is the size of France + BeNeLux + Swiss. No Germany, No Spain, No Poland, No Italy, No Sweden, Norway or Finland…
If Texas size is “close to the whole of Europe” and Europe is bigger than the US, Texas must be bigger than the US. Crazy.
You know what they say, “everything is bigger in Texas.” Including how Texans view Texas.
You know what they say “Always Mess with Texas”
TX only includes countries they’ve heard of when discussing Europe. ;)
Texas is about the size of Ukraine or France, not the whole continent.
True, but it might get you far enough that you aren’t “home”, and might be “invading” a neighbouring city.
But I agree, it’s a weakly relevant datapoint, but the only other travel data I could find was that 250k texans fly for Thanksgiving, which was even less useful.
I’m honestly baffled, how do you set policy, have informed debate or even identify business opportunities with so little reliable data?
You with what feels right.
You didnt even touch on the fact that illegal immigrants break less laws and commit less violent crimes than naturalized citizens
They also pay taxes while receiving none of the benefits afforded to citizens with a social security number.
Illegal immigrants are usually paid under the table, so no taxes.
Depends on the industry, but id say most pay taxes these days.
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Pew published a really great article with historical information back in 2021: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/09/whats-happening-at-the-u-s-mexico-border-in-7-charts/ . Information for ‘22 and ‘23 can be found online to add to their charts.
Yeah, it’s quite interesting, but it measures encounters without defining them, and it’s very hard to get anything specifically useful for Texas.
The data does more to show that Texas are being whiny about it, than what their criterion for invasion is. I fully expect a ComiCon or similar to drive as much tourists as the whole illegal immigration thing, and that Texans travel in similar sized crowds for any holiday. But there aren’t any clear data on either, pointing to dangerous ineptitude, and emotionally motivated (or “hysterical” as it was called in the olden days) governance.