Texas Border Video Driving State Towards Independence, Group Leader Says

Footage of suspected illegal migrants pushing their way past fencing and National Guard troops in El Paso, Texas, has sparked a surge in interest about Texan independence, a leading nationalist campaigner told Newsweek.

The claim was made by Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, which wants the Lone Star State to leave the United States and become a fully independent nation. Newsweek contacted the press office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott by email on Saturday. This article will be updated if anyone decides to reply.

On Thursday, video footage of several-dozen migrants forcing their way past fencing and the National Guard at the U.S.-Mexico border was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by New York Post reporter Jennie Taer; it has received more than 18.2 million views. In recent months, irregular migration has caused a surge in tensions between Texan and federal authorities, which has been used as a campaigning tool by advocates of Texan independence, sometimes dubbed TEXIT.

Miller told Newsweek: “What we’ve seen in El Paso has, yet again, caused TEXIT to trend on social media and brought more people to our organization. The reason is simple. The video is absolute incontrovertible proof that TEXIT is the only solution to the border crisis.”

Asked how secession from the Union would help the migrant situation, Miller added: “As a self-governing, independent nation, Texas would have the power to secure the entire border and implement a sane immigration policy that works for Texas without being handcuffed by the federal government’s conscious and intentional efforts to create this crisis.”

In February, a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll of Texan voters conducted exclusively for Newsweek found 44 percent were either “more likely” or “significantly more likely” to support Texas becoming an independent state due to the situation with migrants on the southern border.

By contrast, 16 percent said this made them less likely to back secession, while 35 percent replied it didn’t make a difference either way. For the poll, 814 eligible voters in Texas were surveyed between February 1 and 3.

On Tuesday, the implementation of Texas Senate Bill 4, which Abbott had signed into law, was blocked by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals just hours after the Supreme Court ruled in its favor in a 6-3 judgment. The legislation would allow Texan law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants suspected of being in the country illegally. Critics say this is unconstitutional because migration policy is typically regarded as a federal responsibility.

Tensions surged between Abbott and the Biden administration after the Supreme Court ruled on January 22 that federal agents could remove razor wire placed along the Texas-Mexico border by National Guard troops on the governor’s orders.

This sparked a furious response from Abbott who said Texas was being subject to an “invasion” and invoked its “constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.” This position was backed by Donald Trump, who has made combatting irregular migration a key plank of his campaign for a second White House term. He urged other Republican governors to send National Guard troops to Texas to help secure the border.