Texit – building Texas defenses

As Texans (and other Americans) wait for the Texas Nationalist Movement to make its Big Announcement, the Governor of Texas suddenly is taking the kind of steps that Texit – the secession of Texas from the Union – would mandate for Texas’ own defense. Specifically, Texas law-enforcement officers will start arresting illegal immigrants on their own. If the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement authority must stand down, the Texas Rangers and local sheriffs will not. But more importantly than this, Texas will start to build its own wall along the Rio Grande.

Current state of Texit

As CNAV previously reported, Dan Miller of the Texas Nationalist Movement promised a big announcement on the upcoming Flag Day. No Texan besides himself has a clue to what that announcement might be. Obviously one can guess. He is going to “primary” several Texas legislators who “chubbed” the Texas Independence Referendum (Texit) Act (HB 1359) to death. If so, that should include the Speaker of the Texas House, because he is definitely the weak link.

Governor Abbott, therefore, cannot afford to wait. Every day he twiddles his thumbs, after putative President Joe Biden ordered:

1. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement authority to stand down, and
2. Contractors building the Trump Wall to down tools and go home, leaving breaches in the wall,

yet more illegal immigrants pour through the breaches and make Texans angrier with every passing second.

So beginning this month he started giving every impression that he will twiddle his thumbs no longer. Is he trying to stall – another variation of “chubbing”? Maybe. But if he seriously takes the measures he proposes, he will be building the defenses a proud and independent Republic of Texas would need anyway.

If you cross illegally into Texas, we will arrest you

You read that right. On 1 June, Governor Abbott declared disaster in 34 Texas counties by reason of the illegal immigrants pouring in. You can read that declaration here.

The Center for Immigration Studies shows ample cause to declare such a disaster:

But that’s not all. Gov. Abbott then told Sean Hannity on 9 June that Texas LEOs would start arresting illegal immigrants. (Source: InfoWars.)

We’re about to change the way Texas addresses the challenges on the border. And we’re going to start by helping these 34 counties respond by increasing arrests.

The Texas LEOs (the Rangers? Local sheriffs? The governor doesn’t say) would charge the immigrants with aggravated trespass. That State offense carries a prison sentence of six months to a year.

Forerunner of a Texit Wall?

Overnight, Gov. Abbott followed up that announcement with yet another. Now he says Texas will build its own border wall. CNAV has this from:

• The Texas Tribune,
• The New York Post,
• KDFW-TV Channel 11 (Dallas, Texas),
• Yahoo! News, and
• United Press International.

Those reports are short on details because Gov. Abbott provided few details, though he promised more next week. The Texas Legislature did allocate $1 billion for border security in its budget bill. (But they did not pass Rep. Bryan Slaton’s Texas Border Security Enhancement Act, or HB 2862.) Whether Gov. Abbott would use that money to pay for the wall, or some other money, he didn’t say. Nor did he say that Texas would simply stop the breaches in Donald Trump’s wall. That alone would be effective – except that it’s a federal installation. The governor did say he would form a Task Force on Border and Homeland Security. Eight State agencies would play a role in this task force.

Further statement by the governor

While securing the border is the federal government’s responsibility, Texas will not sit idly by as this crisis grows. The state is working collaboratively with communities impacted by the crisis to arrest and detain individuals coming into Texas illegally…. Our efforts will only be effective if we work together to secure the border, make criminal arrests, protect landowners, rid our communities of dangerous drugs, and provide Texans with the support they need and deserve. This is an unprecedented crisis, and Texas is responding with the most robust and comprehensive border plan the nation has ever seen.

But former Senator Don Huffines (R-Dallas, Texas) is not satisfied. He is going to “primary” the Governor in 2022. Yesterday he said,

I would like to thank “all talk, no action” Greg Abbott for joining my campaign by admitting that as governor he’s had the power for the last seven years to close down the Texas border, and has refused to do so.

President Donald J. Trump has already endorsed Gov. Abbott for reelection.

What will the federal government do?

The Biden-Harris administration has an obvious motive to stop the arrests and the construction. They can say that Texas Rangers, DPS State Troopers, and local sheriffs do not have jurisdiction over immigration law. But first, the federal authorities are refusing to enforce immigration law. Indeed the putative President sent a memo urging ICE attorneys not to prosecute people for breaking this law.

And second, the governor doesn’t propose that Texas LEOs arrest people for breaking immigration law. He proposed they arrest people for aggravated trespass, which the State has full authority to prosecute.

As to either building the wall or (as Sen. Huffines pledged) stopping the breaches in the Trump Wall, maybe the Biden-Harris administration will accuse Texas of “engaging in war” without the consent of the Congress. Let them – and then let Gov. Abbott assert that Texas is:

1. suffering an “actual invasion,” and
2. “in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.”

Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution spells out why a State may “engage in war” unilaterally. Besides, the governor never proposes invading Mexico – just stopping Mexico from informally invading Texas.

The meaning for Texit moving forward

Senator Huffines is correct: Governor Abbott could have acted seven years ago. President Trump might have given him reasons to let the federal government do it. Those reasons include building 450 miles of wall along the northern shore of the Rio Grande. But President Biden’s allies (or string pullers) stole the election from Trump and usurped power. They then, as above, suspended immigration enforcement and border wall construction. Why, then, did not the Governor move at once to do the things he is talking about only now?

In any event, the Biden-Harris administration is abusing Texas yet again with its omissions on border security. The motives for those omissions are a subject for another discussion. Texans don’t need to care about that. They need to care about a continued invasion from a foreign power, and a federal government that:

1. Won’t stop it, and
2. Will complain about Texas trying to secure its elections.

That last will become vitally important the first time someone proposes a referendum on retro-cession of Texas back to Mexico. Or, as Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg, Gillespie Co., Texas) proposed, a referendum on Texas becoming a Republic again.

And here we see the real motive for Texit. We see the latest in “a long train of abuses and usurpations” that will only get worse. Gov. Abbott proposes sending more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives, in addition to two Republican U.S. Senators. But that will not solve the problem.

Texit requires these defenses

But at least, whatever Gov. Abbott’s motives, he now promises the sort of action Texit must include. Texas will need to make its own laws of immigration (and bankruptcy). And Texas will need to see to its own defenses. This might mean building a Trump-style wall, not only along the Rio Grande but also along the Red River and the borders of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Governor Abbott has proposed no wall except along the Rio Grande. But that at least is a necessary step. Empowering Texas LEOs to arrest illegal immigrants – on whatever charge – is the first step toward enforcing a Texas immigration law.

Texas, and the Texit movement, now wait for Dan Miller to make his own announcement. Hopefully Mr. Miller understands that he mustn’t let Gov. Abbott “steal his thunder” with his own announcement.

List of earlier articles relating to Texas independence and readiness