Around a barbed wire fence on the southern border of the United States, the sharp conflict between the two parties in the United States has been put on the table this time, and it continues to ferment.
According to CCTV News, on the 28th local time, Republicans in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress announced the impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas. The charges allege that Mayorkas "deliberately and systematically refused to comply with the law" on immigration issues, leading to a failure of immigration controls at the U.S.-Mexico border and violating public trust, while accusing him of obstructing congressional investigations.
At the same time, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick once again responded forcefully, "Don't mess with Texas, we're serious about defending the border." ”
Previously, Texas Governor Abbott publicly criticized Biden on immigration issues and received support from 25 Republican governors across the United States. Former U.S. President Trump also publicly said at a rally on the 27th that he greatly appreciated Texas' approach to confronting the Biden administration. Some lawmakers have advocated a "national divorce" between Republican-controlled "red states" and Democratic-controlled "blue states."
"At present, the internal friction and infighting between the two parties on some major issues in response to the demands of the American people are no less powerful than a civil war. Diao Daming, a professor at the School of International Relations at Renmin University of Chinese, told the governor of Chang'an Street (WeChat ID: Capitalnews) that the current situation is a man-made disaster, and the U.S. federal and state governments have not formed a joint force to explore ways to solve the problem, but want to realize their own political interests in this problem.
On January 26, local time, federal law enforcement officers entered the Rio Grande, and Texas National Guard soldiers waited near the boat ramp. Source: Visual China
"We don't want conflict, and they shouldn't want conflict. We're just doing our job, let's do our job. ”
According to the global network, on the 28th local time, Patrick said on the border migrant crisis that Texas does not want to conflict with the Biden administration, but also issued a warning to the Biden administration again.
Diao Daming pointed out that since the Biden administration took office, in order to completely oppose Trump's extreme remarks on immigration policy, it has basically stopped the border control policy during the Trump administration. The relatively loose immigration policy has led to a large influx of immigrants from Central America into the border areas of the United States, which in turn has intensified the pressure on the border states.
A set of data can also confirm the opening of illegal immigrants at the border under the easing policy. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows that the number of U.S. border arrests at the border has increased sixfold since 2018, reaching 2.4 million in 2022. Officials at the U.S. Department of the Interior estimate that about 300,000 people crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in December, a record number.
Previously, border states, especially those dominated by the Republicans, have taken some radically different approaches to dealing with illegal immigration, including Texas, which borders Mexico. The more than 2,000-kilometer border with Mexico has exposed Texas to the impact of smuggling waves.
Since March 2021, Texas has launched "Operation Lone Star" on border issues, including intercepting illegal immigrants and sending them to the state of the Democratic governor.
Just as Texas is criminalizing immigrants illegally crossing the border into the state and pulling up barbed wire again. On January 22, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to approve a Biden administration's request to allow Border Patrol to dismantle barbed wire along the Texas border. Since then, the Texas National Guard has been engaged in an armed standoff with federal law enforcement officers.
"If Joe Biden gives us the way, we'll get the job done and secure the border. We don't need them...... It was Joe Biden who wanted to divide us. On the 25th local time, Patrick said "don't mess with Texas" and said that Biden was "trying to turn this into a political fight."
On January 26, local time, Dan Patrick, deputy governor of Texas, visited the border area. Source: Visual China
In fact, this is not the first confrontation between the National Guard and federal law enforcement.
In 1957, Arkansas used the National Guard to restrict access to colleges and universities for African-American groups. Then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division to Arkansas to escort African-American students to college.
According to Diao Daming's analysis, at that time, under the historical background of the so-called civil rights movement, there were serious contradictions in the entire United States on major issues such as racial equality, and now the situation of fighting in the same room shows that there are serious differences in the political and social circles of the United States today on some major issues related to the direction of national development.
At present, how this increasingly fierce confrontation will end has become the focus of attention of many parties.
There are also many worries in US public opinion: Will the confrontation between Texas and the federal government cause the country to slide into a "civil war"? What is the possibility of Texas becoming independent?
According to the 1869 case of Texas v. White, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution did not allow states to secede unilaterally from the United States. In other words, if a state joins the U.S. Union, it cannot "unilaterally" withdraw or declare independence.
"It doesn't end up being a civil war, but this kind of partisan struggle has a long history. Diao Daming said that after entering the 2024 election cycle, if the Biden administration does not handle this matter well, it will inevitably affect the election of the Democratic Party. And Trump's current lead in the Republican primaries could prompt a massive influx of migrants to the border within this year. This, in turn, exacerbates the migration challenges facing the current government, which are becoming increasingly difficult to resolve.
Currently, the US Senate is negotiating a draft border agreement.
"This agreement will give me new emergency powers to close borders when they are overwhelmed. If this authority is granted, I will use it on the day the bill is signed into law. On the 26th local time, Biden said that if the border agreement is passed in the Senate and becomes law, it will be "the toughest and fairest border security reform plan in the history of the United States."
But Republicans don't seem to buy it, and House Speaker Mike Johnson immediately said that the Senate deal will not pass the House of Representatives, because the current bipartisan proposal by the Democrats would explicitly allow up to 150,000 illegal border crossings per month before the new "border closure" power can be used, and the content of the agreement itself "represents the surrender of the United States."
"Now that the two sides are deadlocked, even if they reluctantly take a step back or reach a compromise, it will be difficult to avoid an effective solution to the immigration issue in the future, and the election will be closer to the time, and the two sides will use this issue to cause problems for the other side, and the stronger the incentive to affect the election." Diao Daming said.