A prominent Texas separatist has claimed that the Lone Star State’s secession from the Union — a movement dubbed “Texit” — “could be closer than we think” amid Governor Greg Abbott’s battle with the federal government to control the border with Mexico.
“We’re at a point where Texit is on everyone’s mind, both those who support it and those who oppose it,” Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, said on Tuesday’s episode of his “Texas News” podcast.
“Border issues have been at the forefront of the news cycle and Texit has become a natural logical extension of what’s happening at the border,” he said.
“We’re fighting to get what we’ve always talked about, which is a binding vote — a vote for Texas to be a self-governing, independent state,” Miller continued.
He went on to praise Abbott for declaring that the Lone Star State’s right to self-defense “supersedes any federal statute to the contrary” and his refusal to remove the razor wire barrier, despite the US Supreme Court ruling that it was unconstitutional.
Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, said the Lone Star State’s secession from the Union “could really be closer than we think.” Texas Nationalist Movement PAC
The Republican governor argued that because the federal government had failed to protect Texas from the invasion of immigrants crossing the border, the state had the “constitutional authority to defend” itself.
Miller echoed those sentiments on his podcast on Tuesday.
“Every time Texas tries to do something to secure the border, the federal government comes in and intervenes; or they had previously done a sterilized Texas effort to essentially have Texans — the Texas Department of the Army and the Department of Public Safety — operating as auxiliaries for the Border Patrol, which was under orders to allow them [migrants] cross, process it, put it on buses and planes and send it everywhere,” he said.
Miller praised Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for declaring that the Lone Star State’s right to self-defense “supersedes any federal statute to the contrary.” ADAM DAVIS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
He also told The Post that he believes the current struggle at the border “draws more attention to the size and strength of Texit’s already existing support,” noting that the Texas Nationalist Movement was founded in 2005 and has seen steady growth in support since then.
Miller is confident that more residents will vote “yes” in a poll on whether the state should secede, he told Newsweek.
He also suggested in his podcast that border skirmishes might prompt other states to consider secession, pointing out that 25 Republican governors have signed a letter supporting Abbott.
The Republican executive refused to remove the razor wire barrier between the state and Mexico, even though the US Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional. Getty Images
“Does this mean, we’re going to see not just Texas, but the rest of the states, the other 25, and what does that mean for the Union?” Miller presented to his listeners.
“It’s an interesting time we live in, folks,” he said. “And I think we’re heading to a place beyond the constitutional crisis.”
But Miller’s remarks came just weeks after the Texas Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought by a secessionist group after the state GOP rejected his petition to include a vote on state independence on the upcoming ballot.
Members of the Texas Supreme Court did not give reasons for their decision, but the Republican Party claimed that the group’s petition was not submitted in time, and that the 139,000 signatures were invalid because they were made electronically, according to the Independent.
The Texas Nationalist movement suffered a blow earlier this month when the Texas Supreme Court refused to hear its case after the state GOP rejected its petition to include a vote on state independence on the upcoming ballot. Texas Nationalist Movement PAC
A lawyer representing the group said at the time, “The establishment won today, but we’re not going away.”
The group plans to sue the state Republican Party for waiting past the deadline to submit its petition, Miller told the Post.
But, he said, he did not see the Supreme Court’s decision as a setback because the “political momentum” the group hoped to gain from the non-binding referendum “now exists outside of that vote.”
“It didn’t hurt us one bit,” Miller said.
The Post has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
