Don't mess with Texas – Don't mess with Texas –
Don't mess with Texas – Don't mess with Texas –
Dimitris Apokis writes
For a very long time, the Western world has been showing strong signs of political and social disintegration, which tend to set the entire planet on fire. In the Metropolis of the Western world, the United States, these signs have now begun to enter the red zone of the thermometer of tension. A tension that has now begun to test even the cohesion of the Federation, that is, the unity of the country as a whole. An explosion in the Metropolis of the Western world will have dramatic, political, economic, cultural and social consequences, which no one can imagine at the moment, but which are now a very likely scenario. And this is where the phrase Don't Mess With Texas acquires enormous importance.
On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced in a statement that is unprecedented in history since the end of the American Civil War, that he refuses to follow a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court and will continue to use state law enforcement and the Texas National Guard to protect the southern border.
The governor's statement follows a controversial court ruling on Monday that ruled 5-4 that the Border Patrol and other federal agencies had the authority to tear down physical barriers erected by state authorities in Texas, including barbed wire. The governor had ordered the state to begin building its own border fences because of the federal government's refusal to enforce the border as part of President Joe Biden's open-border approach to immigration.
“The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States,” the Texas Governor said, and pointed out that, “The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws that protect the States, including the immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has ignored Texas’ demand to perform its constitutional duty.”
Mr Abbott confirmed his decision to secure the border by declaring a mass migration crisis invasion, thus invoking the right of an individual state to protect its sovereignty in the event that the federal government refuses to do so.
"OR "The Biden administration's failure to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has activated Article I, § 10, clause 3, which reserves to this state the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion pursuant to Article I, § 10, clause 3 to invoke the constitutional power of Texas to defend and protect itself.", the Governor detailed. “This authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statute to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel act under this authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border,” concluded.
Simply reading the language of the Texas Governor's statement, one understands the culmination of the tension prevailing within America, which has been caused by the extreme policies of the Biden administration.
Since Biden took office three years ago, illegal immigration rates have exploded, leading to multiple records for the highest number of illegal crossings and arrests. In 2022, more than 2,2 million illegal aliens were detected, with another 2 million recorded in 2023.
The Governor of Texas ordered state authorities to secure the border by any means necessary. This ranged from the aforementioned barbed wire fencing to the installation of large buoy barriers on the Rio Grande River to prevent water crossings. On January 11, Texas took control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass after the Governor declared a state of emergency, attempting to apprehend illegal immigrants and secure the previously volatile region.
The standoff represents perhaps the biggest escalation in tensions between the federal government and states over immigration. Immigration has emerged as a dominant issue for voters heading into the 2024 election, with exit polls in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary showing voters ranking it as the most important issue.
This unprecedented crisis in America is not far from Europe, where a number of governments, as well as the Brussels bureaucracy, are following Mr. Biden's similarly destructive policy.
* Dimitris G. Apokis, is an Internationalist, specializing in American Foreign Policy, Geopolitics and International Economy. Graduate of, universities The American University, School of International Service, and The Johns Hopkins University, The Paul H. Nitze, School of Advanced International Studies Washington. It's made of member of The International Institute for Strategic Studies, of London. As a Journalist, he was for many years an accredited correspondent in the White House, the State Department and the American Pentagon.