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2 months ago

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News Law and Order illegal immigration judiciary supreme court texas texas independence texit

Texas – will it set secession in motion?
By Terry A. Hurlbut
Yesterday saw a whipsaw of rulings in two courts, directly affecting the Texas program of State border enforcement. The U.S. Supreme Court refused the Biden administration’s “application to vacate a stay” early yesterday afternoon. But the stay involved was an administrative stay by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Within hours of the Supreme Court action, the Fifth Circuit dissolved their administrative stay, as they prepared to hear oral argument today. At the same time, the court has agreed to rehear an earlier Texas appeal – en banc. The Texas Nationalist Movement is watching – and publicly wondering what Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) will do. So now two questions occur: what will the Fifth Circuit decide, and what will Texas do in response?
Texas, the courts, and various personalities
Texas presently has three cases before the federal courts, at various stages, over three parts of its Operation Lone Star. The three parts include:
• Installation of a barrier of ballards – buoys on a string – with circular saw-like disks between them, and nets beneath,
• Stringing of concertina wire along a fence along the Northern Rio Grande riverbank, and
• Making unlawful entry or re-entry into Texas from a foreign country a violation of State law.
Each of these measures is the subject of its own case, two of which have actually reached the Supreme Court:
Ballard string: U.S. v. Abbott, in District Court and Appeals Court,
Concertina wire: Texas v. Department of Homeland Security, in District Court, Appeals Court, and Supreme Court.
Direct arrests: U.S. v. Texas, in District Court (consolidated with another case), Appeals Court, and Supreme Court.
https://rumble.com/v3za9tj-texas-buoy-case-mistakes-all-around.html?mref=4teej&mc=88ce6
https://rumble.com/v48xehx-texas-border-dispute-and-defiance.html?mref=4teej&mc=88ce6
Judge David Alan Ezra, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii and now seconded to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, is handling the buoy case and the direct-arrest case. Judge Alia Moses, Chief Judge of the Western Texas District Court, is handling the concertina-wire case.
Current dispositions
Judge Ezra, on September 6, handed down a preliminary injunction ordering Texas to move the ballard barrier out of the main channel of the Rio Grande, and onto the northern riverbank. But the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that decision until they could hear argument. On December 2, they voted 2-1 to vacate all stays. (The dissenting judge owes his appointment to President Trump; the other two owe theirs to Presidents Carter and Biden.)
But almost at once, Texas applied for the full Fifth Circuit to hear the case en banc. Against all odds, a majority of the active judges agreed to this. Therefore the full Circuit Court vacated the earlier judgment and opinion. They will hear the matter on May 13, 2024.
Judge Ezra also enjoined Texas from enforcing its new immigration law, known only as Senate Bill 4. In his opinion, the judge held that:
• A surge of immigrants, legal or illegal, does not an “invasion” make. (“Invasion,” to Judge Ezra, means a military incursion by an organized, disciplined armed force.)
• No State may run its own immigration policy; that would violate the Supremacy Clause.
• Texas cannot say it is “engaging in war” with its passage of SB 4.
• SB 4 interferes with American treaty obligations.
The Fifth Circuit initially granted an administrative stay. Immediately the Biden administration ran to the Supreme Court with an application to vacate the stay. The Supreme Court balked – but the Fifth Circuit dissolved its own stay.
About the concertina wire
The concertina wire case began when Texas sued the federal government to stop Border Patrol personnel from cutting it. Judge Moses at first granted an injunction against the federal government – but let it lapse toward the end of November. Texas appealed, and a different panel voted 2-1 to grant an injunction pending appeal. The federals went to the Supreme Court, and earlier this year, the Supreme Court vacated that injunction. Then the Fifth Circuit held the appeal in abeyance and asked Judge Moses to hold an evidentiary hearing. She did this on March 5, but so far the proceedings are behind a paywall. At present she is dealing with a motion-to-dismiss from the federal government.
The Fifth Circuit, meanwhile, heard the direct-arrests case today. (They have made a sound recording available here.) As mentioned, the full Fifth Circuit will hear the buoy case en banc in May.
But in the meantime:
Texas has left the ballard string in or just north of the centerline of the Rio Grande.
The Texas National Guard has also ejected the Border Patrol from the Eagle Pass State Park, which they had been using as a staging area and processing center. Texas is also completing the construction of President Trump’s border wall on its own. The Texas National and State Guards are also stringing more concertina wire.
As to direct arrests, Gov. Abbott insists that he has already been making them.
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1770530449707688410
If true, that’s the most serious open defiance yet.
The Texas Nationalist Movement
And what is the Texas Nationalist Movement doing? Watching, waiting – and pursuing several runoff campaigns from the Texas Primary. They took note when the Supreme Court denied the application for vacating the administrative stay. (And when the government of Mexico categorically refused to repatriate any of their people, should Texas deport them.)
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1770214603563450427
They took note again when the Fifth Circuit dissolved their administrative stay.
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1770467308349304874
Even before yesterday’s Supreme Court action, Newsweek published a piece describing a resolution by the Kendall County Democratic Party, calling for changes in the election code to disqualify “Texas First Pledge” signatories from running for office.
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1770136739908399136
The Boerne Star had carried their own article on the same story:
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1769769902045368643
TNM is urging a defiant stance – and active preparations for Texas to assert its independence.
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1770517558153576540
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1770544612500820206
https://twitter.com/DeanRoss34/status/1770114538341282281
They also alleged something that, if true, would cast doubt on Judge David Ezra’s confident “finding” of no “invasion.”
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1769756267843665982
That dovetails with this stunning admission by Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee. He admitted that ten or more Known or Suspected Terrorists have already crossed the border. A “terrorist” is an irregular saboteur, therefore an agent of a hostile power.
But the most striking post they’ve made recently is an hour-long analysis by TNM President Dan Miller.
https://twitter.com/TexasNatMov/status/1769884392066044225
He wonders whether Gov. Abbott is actively preparing for “Texit,” and whether the world at large is preparing to accept it. For instance, he cited these fanciful, but on-point, videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXIaYWHclv8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL-GPKh0JdI
Analysis
On one hand, as Mr. Miller pointed out, Gov. Abbott has been junketing around the world signing Statements of Mutual Cooperation with various foreign governments. The minute Texas changes its nickname from Lone Star State to Lone Star Republic, each of these statements could become a treaty. Of course, States may not make treaties under any circumstances. (U.S. Constitution, Article I Section 10 Clause 1.)
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation…
Furthermore, Gov. Abbott’s posture might now be openly defiant, if his boast about making 41,000 criminal arrests is actually true. Yet he has, so far, refused to call the Texas Legislature into special session to consider a “Texit Bill.” Perhaps he’s waiting for next year’s regular session, which will likely have a new strength of secessionist sentiment. (Among other results, Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, Speaker of the Texas State House, faces a runoff. He has been the chief opponent of the Texit Bill when sympathetic colleagues have introduced it twice before.)
https://rumble.com/v4ia9bf-texas-primary-advances-conservative-and-secessionist-cause.html?mref=4teej&mc=88ce6
Note that a “Texit Bill” would not be a resolution of secession. Instead it would cause a Joint Select Committee on Texas Independence to sit, hold hearings, and consider appropriate steps. Before that could happen, the people must vote in a referendum – in the first fall following the bill’s passage.
How Texas could vote yes
The last times the House Committee on State Affairs considered a “Texit Bill,” Texas wasn’t facing an immigration crisis, nor taking a pro-active, now defiant, posture in response. So the first move by the federal government to federalize any part of Texas Military forces might provoke that special session. Then a referendum on independence would appear on the ballot – in a Presidential election.
Trump will likely carry Texas, but he might carry it more easily with a Texit Referendum also on the ballot. If Texans voted yes, Trump might take over a country with one of its largest States actively considering secession. No doubt he would move to correct the serious dereliction of federal Constitutional duty that has caused Texas to act as it has. And the easiest solution would be to give federal blessing, if not necessarily funding, to ballard strings and concertina wire. Perhaps he would also formally request Texas law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants. They would then turn them over to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement authority ready to do its job.
But if Biden wins…! Neither Donald Trump nor Elon Musk (now one of Texas’ largest employers) has said what they would do then. A Biden victory and a Texit Yes vote invokes possibilities the seriousness of which one cannot overestimate. Perhaps one should close with this reminder: Joe Biden, you’re no Abraham Lincoln!
Link to:
Various court dockets:
U.S. v. Abbott:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67630985/united-states-v-abbott/
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67770228/united-states-v-abbott/
Texas v. DHS:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67909144/state-of-texas-v-us-department-of-homeland-security/
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68058529/state-of-texas-v-dhs/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23a607.html
U.S. v. Texas:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68134300/united-states-v-state-of-texas/
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68100418/las-americas-immigrant-advocacy-center-v-steven-c-mccraw/
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68304081/united-states-v-state-of-texas/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23a814.html