In recent weeks, the US state of Texas has been in a fierce confrontation with the US federal government on the issue of illegal immigration, and there is a trend of intensification, which has attracted media attention.
Why is this happening? Let's start with a few words about illegal immigration in the southern United States.
The illegal entry of a large number of immigrants is a relatively serious problem facing the United States. Especially in recent years, due to the instability and gang-ridden countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in Central America, and later Venezuela, large numbers of people in these countries have traveled long distances from south to north across Mexico and then from the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States.
Since 2020, the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has skyrocketed, with more than 2 million per year, and nearly 3 million in some years.
Entering the United States
Because Texas has a long border with Mexico, most of these people pass through Texas to enter the United States. The Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations have all taken various measures, but none have struggled to curb the entry of illegal immigrants.
Texas believes that the U.S. federal government has been ineffective in preventing illegal immigrants from entering the country, so it has to take matters into its own hands and use the Texas National Guard to forcefully stop illegal immigration.
Recently, Texas erected a fence and barbed wire fence at Eagle Pass, a place on the border with Mexico, to keep out illegal immigrants and to prevent federal law enforcement officers, like members of the U.S. Border Patrol, from entering those areas.
The Biden administration and many Democrats believe that Texas' practice is not only inhumane, but also ineffective in deterring illegal immigration.
In particular, in a recent accident, an immigrant and her two children drowned while wading across the Grant River into Eagle's Mouth, when the Federal Border Patrol was alerted to go to the scene, but the Texas National Guard did not let them in.
The Border Patrol believes that the Texas National Guard's actions delay the rescue, but the Texas Guard believes that the Border Patrol has no rescue capabilities and no medical equipment, and is only using it as an excuse to enter the area.
In the course of the dispute, the Biden administration asked the Border Patrol to remove the fences and barbed wire fences erected in Texas, but a Texas court ruled that federal law enforcement had no authority to remove them.
The case was subsequently appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 vote, but the ruling was also vague, saying only that the Texas court ruled invalid. No further elaboration was given.
After the ruling, the White House argued that the Supreme Court had found that the federal government had the authority to remove barbed wire and fences, but Texas Governor Tony Abbott, a Republican, said the Supreme Court had not made it clear that he would not agree with federal law enforcement
Tear down the barbed wire, and build more barbed wire and fences in Texas.
So on this issue, the state of Texas and the federal government are fiercely opposed.
Abbott
So what do we think about this? There are two angles.
The first is from a legal point of view, which is the boundary between the powers of the federal government (i.e., the central government of the United States) and the powers of the states. This is also an old problem in American history.
In this regard, the federal government believes that the federal government is responsible for the problem of illegal immigration, and that the National Guard is one of the armed forces of the United States and should be under the orders of the federal government.
But Texas believes that the state government should be in charge of its own borders and domestic issues. And Abbott also said that the Texas border has been "invaded" by illegal immigrants (and here, whether it is an "invasion" is also debatable), so according to the constitution, Texas has the right to use its own National Guard, and the federal government has no right to interfere.
So from this point of view, the two sides still have arguments, and it is not ruled out that the lawsuit will continue to fight to the Federal Supreme Court. Locals, however, seem to be more supportive of the Texas government.
Eagle's mouth
The second perspective is from a political perspective. The incident was a confrontation between the Democrats and the Republicans.
The Democrats accused Texas Governor Abbott of being a Republican and a Trump supporter, and that he deliberately wanted to stir up the immigration issue and make it an important topic in this year's campaign. The topic seems to be in Trump's favor.
Moreover, there are currently more than 20 U.S. state governors who are Republicans, and these Republican governors have signed an open letter in support of Texas' approach. So the Democrats, let alone the Democrats, are a political manipulation by the Republicans.
Republicans, for their part, have accused the Democratic administration of being weak and inefficient on the issue of illegal immigration. And in the future, the Republicans want to block the relevant Democratic bills in Congress.
To sum up, it can be said that the issue of illegal immigration is indeed a relatively serious problem facing the United States, and at the same time, the two parties in the United States have indeed politicized this issue and used it to attack each other. In fact, neither party has any effective solution on this issue.
Under such circumstances, we can foresee that the issue of illegal immigration will definitely become an important topic in this year's US election. (Qian Kejin)