As the immigration issue continues to ferment, the contradictions between the federal and local governments in the United States have intensified, and even escalated to the point of armed confrontation.
According to a number of US media reports, a confrontation broke out between the Texas National Guard and the federal government's Border Patrol at a location on the border over the demolition of barbed wire, and even launched a "face-to-face confrontation".
Barbed wire fence was fenced along the Texas border
The reason for this is that Texas has a direct border with Mexico, and a large number of immigrants have entered the United States through it for many years, which has caused a lot of social pressure on the local people. As a result, Texas Governor Abbott announced measures to build a barbed wire fence across the border and deployed the local National Guard to stop immigrants from entering the country illegally.
However, this approach was opposed by the federal government, which it considered incompatible with the values of "freedom and democracy" in the United States, and at the request of the Biden administration, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would allow the dispatch of border patrols to dismantle barbed wire and fencing facilities in border areas.
This move directly angered the local government of Texas, and Governor Abbott directly angrily accused Biden of not only inaction on the border issue, but also obstruction of the legitimate rights and interests of Texas to protect its people from "invasion". Based on this, Abbott launched a program codenamed "Operation Lone Star", mobilized the Texas Kuomintang Guard to step up the deployment, and continued to build and strengthen the barbed wire fence that blocked the immigration.
Texas Governor Abbott
One wanted to be forcibly demolished and the other was to be reinforced, and naturally an armed confrontation broke out. It is worth noting that there are not only contradictions between the federal and local governments in the United States, but also fierce struggles between the Democratic and Republican parties, such as Texas Governor Abbott is a Republican, and after the incident broke out, former US President Trump also ended.
As the best candidate within the Republican Party to challenge for the 2024 presidential election, Trump has spoken out on the matter after winning two consecutive party primaries, sending an unusual political signal to the outside world. He called on Republican-led states to unite and support Texas' efforts to tackle illegal immigration, including by "sending troops" to help.
After Trump's shout, 25 Republican governors immediately responded, issuing statements in support of Texas, and unanimously criticizing the Biden administration for failing to do its duty, claiming that Texas has the right to defend itself and the country's sovereignty. As a result, the confrontation escalated from the confrontation between Texas and the federal government to the contest between all Republican-controlled "red states" and the Biden administration.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump
As the confrontation continues to escalate, there are also voices of "split" in the United States, with some congressmen suggesting that the "red states" and "blue states" in the United States simply "break up," and some conservative media people have also issued warnings, saying that "the United States is engaged in a civil war." For Biden, who is preparing for the general election, this farce will undoubtedly have a big impact on his re-election campaign.
But in addition to the "imminent outbreak of civil war", the United States is also facing tremendous pressure from the outside, just on January 28, a US military base in northeastern Jordan was attacked by drones, the scene of the air defense system "rare failure", resulting in more than 30 injuries and three US soldiers have died.
Although the situation in the Middle East has not been peaceful, in the current context of the prolonged escalation of the Pakistan-Israel conflict and the intensification of the Red Sea crisis, such a large-scale casualty of the US military has undoubtedly shaken the United States' control over the regional situation, which is equivalent to an open "slap in the face" of the Biden administration's Middle East strategy.
US military bases in the Middle East
For the first time since the current round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, there have been US military deaths, and if Biden does not make a tough response, it will be difficult to explain it internally and externally. Therefore, Biden directly pointed the finger at Iran, claiming that although he is still collecting relevant evidence, it can already be confirmed that the incident was committed by Iranian-backed militias, and the United States will take all necessary actions to respond.
The main reason for making this statement and quickly putting the hat on Iran's head is to ease domestic pressure, divert the attention of the people, and create major contradictions to cover up secondary contradictions, such as exaggerating the "huge security threat" from the outside, to unite internal forces, and call on the people to temporarily put aside some internal differences and unite with the outside world.
From this point of view, the bad news from the Middle East is not bad news for the Biden administration, if you can use this topic to hype a wave, maybe you can suppress the heat of the "Texas incident" in the short term, but obviously, this will not solve the problem at the root, because the immigration issue has long become a political tool for the two parties to fight each other.
U.S. President Joe Biden
All in all, the current "internal and external troubles" of the United States are actually caused by itself, and the United States, which once shouted the slogan of so-called "democracy" to build a "free America" and disrupted the regional situation by relying on the strategy of checks and balances, is now gradually being counterattacked. It can only be said that when the people's hearts are scattered, the team will not be able to lead the team, and the set of values flaunted by the United States will not even accept it to its own people, let alone think of fooling the general public in the international community.