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.
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
Right, but apparently people and businesses haven’t found the motivation yet
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.
Yes, actually.
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