In the United States, a serious confrontation is brewing along the region-federal center axis.
The migration crisis in the United States is gaining momentum and has reached a new level, with a rather tough confrontation between Joe Biden’s federal government and local administrations in a number of states, led by Texas.
The essence of the problem with migrants
In a number of areas, the US-Mexico border is virtually unfortified and poorly guarded, allowing illegal migrants to enter US territory with relative ease.
According to CNN, in December 2023 alone, 225,000 people crossed the border illegally, an unprecedented number, a record since 2000. According to preliminary data, in total, about 3 million people crossed the border to the United States through the leaky “wall” in 2023. Most settle here in the border states, mainly in Texas.
The confrontation between the northern and southern states
The southern border states are traditionally Republican, which is why Donald Trump and the Republican Party as a whole are so active in playing on migration issues in the ongoing election race. The northeastern states are more likely to support Democrats and Joe Biden and until recently have hardly faced the problem of illegal immigrants. Democrats are opposed to strengthening the border and generally avoid strengthening anti-immigration measures.
Against this background, the authorities of the southern states, especially Texas, began to use tactics similar to those used by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko against Poland and Lithuania. Texas authorities are organizing the transportation of illegal migrants who have already arrived to the north of the country. At first, they were transported by buses, and later airplanes were used.
Because of this tactic of the southern states, New York, Chicago, and other large cities in the northern United States have also experienced problems with migrants. The local authorities do not have enough municipal dormitories to accommodate the newly arrived migrants, and many are left living on the streets. To solve the problem of migrants, the New York City authorities were forced to cut funding for other city problems, including police spending. Taken together, this worsens the crime situation in the city.
Texas’ conflict with the Biden government
To stem the steady flow of illegal migrants across the border, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered local National Guard units to take control of the border and begin erecting barbed wire fortifications. At the same time, Texas security forces refuse to allow federal border guards back to the border.
The federal government sought a court order to remove the wire, but in response, Texas refused to cede control of the border to the feds. Governor Abbott said that Texas has the legal authority to control any geographical location in the state, so the actions of local authorities cannot be considered illegal.
In response, federal officials accused the Texas authorities of “demonizing migrants” and “politicizing the issue.” The Biden administration issued an ultimatum to Texas Governor Abbott and gave Texas 24 hours to comply with the US Supreme Court ruling and transfer border patrol posts to the federal government. This deadline expires on Friday, January 26.
After that, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the Biden administration of colluding with Mexican drug cartels to smuggle migrants across the border into the United States – a “pay-per-person scheme.” Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called on Biden to “get out of the way.”
Abbott himself accused Biden of refusing to comply with immigration laws and violating constitutional rights to self-defense.
He also activated Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which allows martial law to be declared in a state and act without regard to the federal government. “His [Biden’s] actions have triggered an unprecedented intrusion that we must defend against,” Abbott said.
Reaction within the United States
Governors of 25 other American states expressed their support for Abbott’s actions. They signed a petition in support of Texas against the federal government. The states of Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, and others are among the supporters.
The governor of South Dakota (a state in the north of the United States) even offered to send units of the local National Guard to support Texas, and the governor of Ohio called the Biden government’s policy “a failure.”
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landrieu issued an official statement in which he also supported the actions of Texas.
Trump also expressed solidarity with Texas and called on “all states to deploy their security in Texas to prevent illegal immigrants from entering and to take them back across the border.”
Abbott’s actions were supported by Elon Musk, who said: “Texas is absolutely right. This (Biden) administration is deliberately breaking the law by aiding and abetting illegal migration on an unprecedented scale.”
Why it is important for Ukraine
Although the migration crisis is a purely domestic matter for the United States and only partially affects its relations with Mexico and other Latin American countries, Trump’s efforts have managed to link this problem to military assistance to Ukraine.
In October, the US fiscal year ended, and with it the annual federal budget. In the context of the presidential election campaign, a fierce debate between Republicans (primarily the Trumpist group) and Democrats began over the necessary and unnecessary items of expenditure in the new budget.
In the heat of this political struggle, the Trumpists tried to “cut” as many of the spending items as possible that the Democrats insist on. Among other things, the new program for financing military assistance to Ukraine was also under attack. Republicans insist that the costs of strengthening the border with Mexico should be funded first, and only then can money be allocated for aid to Ukraine and other programs.
Joe Biden proposed to adopt a program of spending to strengthen the border with Mexico and a program to finance military assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in one package. The details of this “package” have been discussed for almost four months, but the parties have not been able to reach an agreement. There is still no full-fledged US budget for the fiscal year that began in October.
Although Biden has already publicly expressed his willingness to make concessions on the migration issue, the problem seems unlikely to be resolved. On Wednesday, a closed-door meeting of the Republican Party was held, during which one of its leaders, Mitch McConnell, admitted that Donald Trump is strongly opposed to the Republican-Democrat deal that would fund both border security and aid to Ukraine.
According to McConnell, Trump intends to use the problem of illegal immigrants in his election campaign, so he is not interested in the problem being solved at least until the election. They will take place in November.
Let us remind you once again. The Republicans themselves refuse to approve aid to Ukraine until the issue of the Mexican border is resolved. Although this problem has nothing to do with Ukraine.
