The standoff between Texas and the federal government at the southern border has ignited a fight over states' rights, with secessionists latching onto the ordeal as a reason for Texas to become “an independent and self-governing nation,” according to the longtime leader of Texas’ unlikely secessionist movement, Daniel Miller.
For months, Texas has been laying concertina wire along the Rio Grande, taking over the 47acre Shelby Park in Eagle Pass.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling has allowed U.S. Border Patrol agents to cut the wire to apprehend people who have crossed the river. The decision has further put Gov. Greg Abbott at odds with the Biden administration and has earned Abbott the support of notable Republican leaders from around the country.
At the core of the dispute is a charged term regularly used by Abbott: “invasion,” which legal experts say has been used historically against migrants. Abbott and other GOP leaders claim that because the state faces an “invasion” of migrants that’s been aided by the Biden administration, Texas has the right to supersede the federal government’s outlined immigration powers in the U.S. Constitution.
“Unfortunately, the word invasion has been used historically against migrants to justify stricter immigration laws,” said Adriel Orozco, senior policy counsel at the Washington D.C.
nonprofit the American Immi gration Council. “It appears that Gov. Abbott is more interested in scoring political points than understanding what an invasion is under the Constitution.
