Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ® on Wednesday accused the federal government of breaking the compact with the states following a Supreme Court ruling on Monday that cleared the way for the Border Patrol to remove razor wire installed by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In a statement, Abbott said, “President Biden has refused to enforce [immigration] laws and has even violated them.”
It’s the latest escalation in a legal and political standoff between Texas and the federal government, though Abbott stopped short of announcing any specific measures.
He has been pushing constitutional boundaries on state versus federal jurisdiction of border and immigration enforcement for the better part of two years; his legal team, including state Attorney General Ken Paxton, first publicly toyed with the idea of formally declaring a border “invasion” in April 2022.
I can’t find direct data on how many illegal immigrations are happening in Texas every year, but the undocumented population is estimated to be about 1,5 million, and stable. [source]
Between 2022 and 2023, the legal migrant population increased by 10k, and eligible migrants decreased by 50k. If we assume that the whole difference is only due to illegal immigrants naturalizing, that would mean that the Texas yearly influx of immigrants is 60k. [source]
That would mean that the “invasion” requiring armed self defence/martial law is for 60k civilians.
About 10 million Texans yearly travel over 50 miles, [source], does that mean Texas is invading most of the US annually?
(also, it’s ridiculous that you don’t have clear data and statistics on this exact question. Sometimes I love living in the EU)
Pew published a really great article with historical information back in 2021: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/09/whats-happening-at-the-u-s-mexico-border-in-7-charts/ . Information for ‘22 and ‘23 can be found online to add to their charts.
Yeah, it’s quite interesting, but it measures encounters without defining them, and it’s very hard to get anything specifically useful for Texas.
The data does more to show that Texas are being whiny about it, than what their criterion for invasion is. I fully expect a ComiCon or similar to drive as much tourists as the whole illegal immigration thing, and that Texans travel in similar sized crowds for any holiday. But there aren’t any clear data on either, pointing to dangerous ineptitude, and emotionally motivated (or “hysterical” as it was called in the olden days) governance.
You didnt even touch on the fact that illegal immigrants break less laws and commit less violent crimes than naturalized citizens