January 26, 2024 - 4:00pm
Texas
As anyone who has entered the US through one of its major airports will know, it is a country which believes in vigorously policing its borders. The experience is excruciating: a long wait as you shuffle slowly towards passport control, closely watched by cameras and grim-faced border officials who snap at you if you step out of line, while at the other end you are photographed and fingerprinted and asked questions about where you just came from and how long you intend to stay.
Unless you enter via the southern land border, that is. Down there, things are a bit more laissez-faire. Sure, if you really want to come in via one of the official checkpoints then someone will inspect your documents and register your entry. But if you’d rather skip that formality, the feds won’t do much to stop you.
As a result, an estimated six million migrants have entered the US the “unofficial” way over the past three years — equivalent to the entire population of Scotland, with another half-million thrown in for good measure. Texas, which takes a dim view of Joe Biden’s de facto open (southern) border policy, has responded by bussing some of these new arrivals to Democrat-controlled “sanctuary cities” and putting up razor wire along parts of the US-Mexico border. Although there isn’t much the Biden administration can do about the buses, it has tried its best to keep the borders open, ordering Border Patrol agents to cut the wire.
The ensuing dispute went to the Supreme Court, which sided with the Federal Government’s right to cut the wire. What happened next, however, was very interesting. On 24 January, Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a letter in which he proclaimed that Biden was a “lawless president” and that since the Federal Government had refused to protect the states from invasion, this had triggered Texas’s constitutional right to self-defence — so the Texas Guard continues to put up razor wire.
At first this seemed a very “Texas Republic” move to me, harking back to the state’s period of independence between 1836 and 1845 which left a strong imprint on the Texan mentality. But then I read Abbott’s letter and was struck by how American it was: there were no references to Texas heroes like Sam Houston, only to Founding Fathers James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.
Other Republican governors were quick to show support: within 24 hours a total of 25 had issued a joint statement supporting Texas’s constitutional right to self-defence. Unsurprisingly, no Democrats have joined them so far, while progressive hero and notorious three-time loser Robert “Beto” O’Rourke urged Biden to take control of the Texas guard.
In today’s highly polarised political environment, it is easy to imagine how this latest manifestation of the Red/Blue divide might provide fodder to peddlers of fanciful narratives about an impending civil war. However, one shouldn’t be so sure: given how vociferously Democrat mayors object whenever Abbott sends them buses full of the very people they had previously declared welcome, I suspect that most of them are starting to rather regret the whole sanctuary state thing. It was fine when it was just about vibes and appearing righteous, but not so much when they were taken at their word.
Of course, no Democrat leader would ever dare say such a thing out loud. But perhaps, deep in their hearts, they are secretly grateful that Abbott chose not to back down but to escalate, and to push the border crisis to the limits.
Daniel Kalder is an author based in Texas. Previously, he spent ten years living in the former Soviet bloc. His latest book, Dictator Literature, is published by Oneworld. He also writes on Substack: Thus Spake Daniel Kalder.
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SubscribeTo be clear, the Supreme Court ruling doesn’t prevent Texas from putting up razor wire. It temporarily reaffirms the federal government’s jurisdiction to take it down.
That is correct, setting up the silly image of a border agent cutting wire and a Texas guardsman standing six feet away immediately repairing it. Not only that, but he’s basically daring Biden to try to nationalize the guards. I suspect the governor already knows what the results of that particular test of loyalty will be. I mean he didn’t exactly have to twist their arms to put up the barricades in the first place.
I’m reminded of those old Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd cartoons where they go back and forth with “Rabbit Season”, “Duck Season” until somehow Bugs tricks Daffy into saying something wrong that prompts Fudd to shoot the ducks. Bugs is the clever protagonist, Elmer the simpleton with the shotgun, and Daffy is the idiot who keeps getting outplayed. In this case, Greg Abbott is playing the role of Bugs, Biden is Daffy, and the media/voters are our Elmer Fudd.
Brandon is indeed “Daffy”, if he knows where he is….”Suffering Succotash”….
Funny how someone points out the obvious and it hits you like a brick. There are layers and layers of border security at airports to ensnare people legally entering the country, but nothing to stop people from illegally entering. These are the times we live in.
For me what’s very odd about this situation isn’t that the Federal gov isn’t doing much to stop illegal entry. It’s that it’s going out of its way to facilitate the said entry, cutting cords and defending at the Supreme Court to continue doing so.
When SCOTUS agrees with the “Leftist Tyrants”, they celebrate, but, just like a two year old brat, they kick and scream, hoping to pack the Court, get rid of the Filibuster, majority voting in the Senate, and open the Border to “Fresh New Democrat Voters”, after a declaration of Amnesty and, “Voting Rights”, Social Security checks, Medicaid….Ad Nauseam….Free Housing, Free Food Benefits…What will the Dear Little Nitwit souls think after the First Mass Terrorist Bombing?
Often it seems that, unless you are obviously a criminal, the prevailing assumption of the government is that you’re a criminal. Stranger than fiction!
Having run out of reasons to explain Team Biden’s dismissive attitude of the border, what’s left is a rather discouraging question: who in the govt is profiting from making common cause with the cartels? Because no other explanation makes sense.
Plenty of people benefit from it – even simple things like cheap landscapers and childcare. I think it’s more likely the ruling elite supports it because of blind ideology. It fits in with their world view and ultimately it doesn’t impact them on a personal level.
in a contracting economy, how much demand is there for day labor, gardeners, and child care? These are numbers well beyond the norm, and they are also on top the massive illegal population that’s already here.
Biden is corrupt no question and he’s ultimately in control. I just don’t think he’s getting paid off. All these NGOs and activists are basically grifters, but IMO they believe in what they say.
Until the first suicide bombing coming to a neighborhood near them…It’s inevitable….
Yes. According to RFK, migrants pay the cartels on average $15000. 6 million have crossed since Biden became President. That’s $90 billion. Serious money. Hard to believe a substantial slice of that is not finding it’s way to DC.
Brandon (Oh….Hunter and the Klan….) is/are likely lining his/their pockets, and coordinating tactics with the Cartels, who are “Better” than any Republican….Notwithstanding DJT….Uncle Joe’s handlers (Jill & Barrack….) are acting like traitorous dictators….Could very well be….Lest we forget “The Squad”….
Abbott should keep putting the barbed wire up, while also keep bussing the illegals already in the state up to New York, Chicago, DC etc.
I think some people make constitutional arguments to the effect that a state, such as Texas, cannot engage in the defense of the national border when the Federal Government has withdrawn its protection of the border. I haven’t studied such arguments, so I can’t assess them, but I do think it’s strange if the U.S. Constitution forbids the states to defend themselves when the Federal Government abrogates its obligation of national defense. It seems to me there’s a flaw somewhere, either in the Constitution or in the interpretation of it.
The politics of this is fraught. I suspect that many stand with Governor Abbott because he is willing to close the border while the Federal Government, as a practical matter, wants it open. If he stands against the Feds, I think he’ll be a hero to many— even more so if he is arrested and prosecuted for his actions. In such a situation, the argument that defending the border is a criminal action if a state undertakes what the Federal Government fails to do will not convince many– regardless of any legal scholarship applied to it.
The sort of state action taken by Texas is a necessary corrective to an unresponsive Federal Government content with its derelictions and sure of its power. Further to this, if the Federal Government fights to keep the border open against the will of the people, it will look very much as though it is trying to remake the country into something it prefers— and at the expense of its citizens.
Absolutely….”New Democrats” are harvested….
“but I do think it’s strange if the U.S. Constitution forbids the states to defend themselves when the Federal Government abrogates its obligation of national defense. It seems to me there’s a flaw somewhere, either in the Constitution or in the interpretation of it.”
In the event the President does not fulfill his duty to defend the borders the remedy is impeachment. If the Congress doesnt impeach him due to partisanship, as is currently the case, then the Constitution is effectively broken. If the Constitution is broken, so is the country.
Abbott’s solution is indeed very American. States defying federal authority happened regularly in the antebellum era. In 1876, a disputed election resulted in the corrupt bargain of 1876, where Hayes was given the presidency in exchange for the Republicans agreeing to remove troops from the south. It’s said by some that this is the de facto peace treaty that truly ended the civil war as it ended the occupation of the former Confederacy. That truce held for a long time, until the civil rights movement, when a few southern states made a token show of defiance against desegregation but backed down without much of an actual fight. It was mostly political theater because Jim Crow was no longer that popular. Further, national patriotism was still high from the memory of WWII and the present realities of the Cold War. The federal government enjoyed a high level of trust and high approval.
That is, to state the obvious, no longer the case. The government is broadly distrusted. The establishment is hated by both left and right for various reasons with quite a bit of overlap. Biden’s coalition is weak and fractious. Big business and the identity politics crowd want open borders. If he could get such a policy passed by Congress he would. He can’t and he knows it. The other party controls half of Congress and on issues that break along regional lines, party loyalty is not always guaranteed. He’s been embracing a de facto open borders policy by not doing anything, and it’s sort of worked. The southern border only affects four states, and geography is most favorable to crossing in just one of those, Texas, which Biden was unlikely to win in 2024 anyway. Had it remained a local issue, he would have been fine.
Greg Abbott, though, had other ideas, and it looks like he’s a better political strategist than Biden with a better understanding of American history and how states can leverage their own authority given the right environment in terms of public opinion. Opinions on immigration with voters are nuanced, but a broad majority is against open borders and uncontrolled migration. By busing so many immigrants to liberal strongholds, Abbott has also put the issue into the minds of voters and politicians who wouldn’t ordinarily see the impact, pushing the pendulum of public opinion towards his position. In any contest of strategy, timing is critical, and Abbott has chosen the perfect moment to deliver his master stroke. He has been governor for a while now, and he could have chosen any moment to make the move to unilaterally close the border, but instead he acted strategically, preparing the ground through his rhetoric and his busing policy to achieve maximum effect. Now, as a new election cycle begins, he has dropped the hammer when his opponent is least able to counter.
Biden is in a singularly bad position now. Everything he does will be seized upon by the other side in an election year. Shining a big spotlight on how Biden is implementing a highly unpopular policy by ignoring the law is bad enough, but now Biden has to choose how to react, and all his choices are bad. Trying a hard-line approach like nationalizing the guard would show strong leadership, but could backfire if Abbott declares the order illegal and then the Texas national guard leaders choose to back the governor. Even if it worked, the headlines in conservative media would all say that the US military was deployed on US soil for the first time since 1876, and it was used to defend foreigners against state authority. Not a good look.
Biden has few other realistic options. He can keep cutting the barricades and Texas can keep putting them back, setting off an absurd game of whack-a-mole that makes him look silly and weak and there’s the reality that Texas has more police and guardsmen than the feds have border agents. They could pull from other agencies like the FBI, but it would then leave those agencies understaffed, and there’s no telling how long Abbott can keep this up. He seems to be better prepared than the feds.
Biden can hope the compromise package being negotiated by the Senate solves the issue, but there’s no guarantee of that. Further, there’s no guarantee it even gets out of Congress. It still has to pass the House, where Trump loyalists have more influence, and by all accounts Trump is planning to oppose the deal. Further, Democrats in deep blue districts where support for Israel is low may suddenly find their conscience can no longer countenance aiding in the ‘genocide’ of the Palestinian people.
Finally, Biden could actually sit down with Abbott and try to reach a compromise that allows Texas to combine their resources with the feds in a border control strategy that satisfies both sides. It would be a courageous move to put the overall good of the nation and set an example of conciliation for others to follow, but he would be betraying his establishment backers, therefore it has about as much chance of happening as an extraterrestrial invasion.
The longer this goes on, the worse Biden looks regardless of how the standoff ends. It’s a loss no matter how the cards fall because whatever he does or doesn’t do leaves him open to criticism from somewhere or everywhere and is guaranteed to turn off some voters, while nothing he does is likely to gain him anybody who isn’t already in his camp. He was beaten by a better strategist with a better understanding of public sentiment and the inner workings of the American system. To me, Abbott looks like a great choice for a candidate in 2028, or even 2024 if Trump gets disqualified and the contest goes to the convention floor, which could happen, given Trump’s delegates probably won’t be voting for Nikki Haley, and how every Republican who dropped out after Iowa will go back in if the Supreme Court rules against him. Trump will endorse somebody, who will get Trump delegates plus whoever the next person gets. Either way Abbott comes out of this looking like the mastermind and the voice of the people while Biden looks ever more the establishment tool that he is. .
Great analysis….
Thank you for taking the time and thought to produce that analysis. The weaker the president, the more the public respects strength in his opponent.
He was beaten by a better strategist who is in the right on this issue.
If Trump is disqualified, you can expect violence. Lots of it.
“Shining a big spotlight on how Biden is implementing a highly unpopular policy by ignoring the law is bad enough,”
It’s not “bad enough” that he is ignoring the law. Its grounds for impeachment and conviction.
Biden and the authoritarian Left’s subversion of security through open borders is a sickening betrayal of the American people. He and his cabal are criminals, and should be tried for their infamy.
The democrats would love nothing more than for Biden to slam the border shut, but they do not really dare say that for fear of the progressive left.
Barring that, even better if the republicans force his hand, then they do not have to act or say anything, in fact they can criticize Abbot while benefiting form his actions. Best of both worlds. They get to keep quiet, hold onto their righteousness and still get their problem solved.
Spot on insight!
Customs and Border Patrol union just said that they will make no attempts to remove or cut the wire put up by the Texas national guard.
They made a very supportive statement of the TX National Guard and their partnership with them on this and basically seemed to be spitting in Biden’s eye.
Guess the “Resistance” can work both ways.
i wish you would have taken/will take this idea further.
the roberts court seems like it is much more sympathetic to states’ rights claims. it would be interesting to explore where this might be going.