Instagram / governorabbott
Gov. Greg Abbott speaks in front of an unfinished portions of Texas' border wall with Mexico.
After the high court's 5-4 vote, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez announced that the Lone Star State would "maintain its current posture in deterring illegal border crossings by utilizing effective border security measures," including reinforcing concertina wire and anti-climb barriers along the southern border. Abbott quickly retweeted Olivarez's statement.
Although Abbott's retweet appears to amp up at the state's standoff with the feds over immigration enforcement, Southern Methodist University political science professor Cal Jillson said history shows that the federal government always wins in the end. And Abbott knows that.This 👇 https://t.co/UhbkL8maqR
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 23, 2024
"Abbott is eventually going to lose," Jillson said. "But, for Southern conservatives, the fight against an overweening federal government is a day-to-day win that they're going to enjoy until they're forced off the position — which will eventually occur here."
Issued at. the request of the Biden administration, the Supreme Court's emergency order bars Texas authorities from preventing federal agents from cutting through the concertina wire if it hinders them from fulfilling their duties, including rescuing migrants in distress. The ruling doesn't force Abbott to remove the barriers already put in place.
The underlying case as to whether Abbott needs to remove the concertina wire entirely is heading back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The loser of that ruling — most likely be the federal government, given the 5th Circuit's reputation as the nation's most conservative appeals court — will then ask the Supreme Court to take up the matter.
Over the past three years, the Texas Military Department has spent $11 million to string concertina wire along the Texas-Mexico border, according to the Texas Tribune.
Since Monday's ruling, social media has percolated with posts from right wingers urging Abbott to hold the line against the feds. In a tweet, the Texas Nationalist Movement even encouraged the governor to declare independence from the Union.
Regardless of that amped-up rhetoric, Abbott will eventually have little choice but to comply, Jillson maintains.⚡️TNM Condemns The Supreme Court’s Ruling On Border – “TEXIT Is The ONLY Way To Finally Secure Our Border”
— Texas Nationalist Movement (TEXIT) (@TexasNatMov) January 23, 2024
Nederland, TX – The Texas Nationalist Movement condemns the United States Supreme Court for allowing the Biden administration to intentionally collapse the border between…
"The feds have lots of levers and tools to encourage compliance, and they might not work immediately, but they do work ultimately," he said.
Indeed, when southern states refused to integrate schools following the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Lyndon B. Johnson, in response, passed the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which led southern politicians to "wet themselves" and revise their segregationist platforms, Jillson added.
Johnson further forced the South's hand by passing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which poured federal funds into the poorest Southern schools only if they desegregated.
"There's currently negotiations in the U.S. Senate over revising border policy and providing money to Ukraine and Israel," Jillson said. "That's an opportunity for the Biden administration to tighten up border security to satisfy some Republican demands, and perhaps that would provide an off-ramp to Abbott's resistance to federal authority."
If Abbott keeps cosplaying as the reincarnation of Sam Houston, Biden could begin cutting off federal funding to Texas, the professor added.
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