(Cypress) “An independent and autonomous government” is the dream of Daniel Miller who, like a handful of other Texans, aspires to a “Texit”, as when this conservative American state was a country independent almost 200 years ago.
Inspired by “Brexit” with the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, supporters of this divorce consider that it would make it possible to resolve a migratory influx at the border with Mexico, at the heart of a standoff with the federal government in Washington.
“We know that here in Texas, the only way to secure the border and have a sensible immigration system is to do like 200 other countries in the world and have a country with an independent and autonomous government,” says to AFP Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement.
According to him, the movement, created in 2005, has never been so close to achieving its goal.
In 1836, Texas gained independence after a revolution which pitted Mexico, on which it depended, against coalitions of settlers. Nine years later, it became 28e State of the United States.
For Daniel Miller, Texas shares history and interests with the rest of the United States, but, he says, the federal government does not understand their problems.
The wish of the separatists? That their state pass a law authorizing a referendum for their independence, which the US Constitution does not allow.
And the wound of the bloody Civil War (1861-1865), which saw the Northern States clash with the slave-holding Southern States fighting for their independence, including Texas, has not healed.
“More Texan than American”
The secessionist movement in Texas has been around for a long time, but remains marginal, according to Joshua Blank, research director at the University of Texas.
The revolt led by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, close to Donald Trump, against the administration of Joe Biden, has “created a situation that they (the separatists) seek to exploit in order to make their position more visible and more plausible than “It really isn’t,” observes the researcher.
At a gathering at a typical Texas barbecue restaurant, Misty Walters, a 50-something housewife, says, “We’re just being invaded,” referring to the record 2.5 million people who crossed the border with Mexico in 2023.
A hot topic in the campaign for the presidential election, as Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who, barring any surprises, will face each other again in November, are due to go there on Thursday.
“Texas must raise its voice and better protect its citizens,” argues Misty Walters, convinced that a majority of residents feel “more Texan than American.”
A poll released this month by the Texas Politics Project, however, shows that only 26% of its residents feel first and foremost Texans. A stable figure: ten years ago, they were 27%.
“And even then, this does not mean that the 26% are in favor of a bloody divorce with the United States,” emphasizes analyst Joshua Blank.
The separatist movement is fueled by “the idea that there is a homogeneous American culture linked to whites,” he adds. “And the crisis at the border increases the fears of citizens who rather share this vision of American culture. »
“Impossible peaceful secession”
In the South Texas town of Eagle Pass, Governor Greg Abbott installed barbed wire along the border and took military control of an area called Shelby Park along the Rio Grande River, thus setting themselves up against the federal government.
The Biden administration has launched legal proceedings against Texas, recalling that border control has always been a federal jurisdiction.
The leader of the independence movement Daniel Miller sees it as a symbol of “a broken relationship between the federal government and the states”.
But unlike the revolution against Mexico, supporters of independence believe they can achieve it peacefully.
Unlikely, according to researcher Joshua Blank: “Texas will not be able to secede peacefully. The United States would not negotiate in a manner favorable to it. »
reference: www.lapresse.ca