The problem of illegal migrants in the USA has been relevant for more than a year. You can recall how during Trump’s presidency, the country built a wall on the border with Mexico. Under Biden, the construction of the wall was stopped and the number of illegal migrants who cross the border from the United States every year began to increase sharply.
The largest number of illegal migrants enter the United States through the Mexican border. And if in 2019 there were 977.5 thousand cases of illegal crossing of this section, then during the next two years the number increased to 2.5-3 million people per year. According to CNN, only in December 2023, 225,000 people crossed the Texas border illegally, which became a record since 2000.
For comparison, the population of all of Texas is almost 30 million people. And the annual number of illegal migrants who come here exceeds the population of 15 other states of the country.
Against this background, it is worth understanding that illegal migrants have a negative impact on both the local population and the federal government. For the former, it is dangerous from a financial point of view – migrants are ready to work more for less money. Such workers impress employers and, accordingly, the local population remains unemployed. For the federal authorities, “open borders”, in particular, increase the volume of drug and weapons traffic entering the country.
The barbed wire of discord: what started the escalation of the conflict
The reason for the beginning of the current large-scale disputes was the decision of Texas to close the border on its own – to install barbed wire and floating barriers along it.
This did not satisfy the federal authorities, Texas was accused of inhumanity, because people began to die on the border due to new restrictions. The Federal Border Patrol has even begun removing wire on the Texas-Mexico border. But the local law enforcement officers stopped letting state agents there. As a result, both parties appealed to the Supreme Court to find the right one. And he made a decision in favor of the White House, that is, he supported Biden’s position.
After that, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (a politician from the Republican camp) refused to obey the court, saying that the state had the right to defend itself against “invasion”, meaning illegal immigrants. The governors of other Republican states took his side – a total of 25. Some of them, for example, the governor of Florida, even announced their readiness to send their own National Guard forces to protect the border from migrants.
Texas refused to comply with the court’s decision, thereby showing direct disobedience to the central American government. Against this background, provocative headlines even about the possible withdrawal of Texas from the United States began to appear in the media.
American Civil War 2.0: How Possible?
Some media have drawn bolder historical parallels, suggesting that the US is on the brink of a second Civil War. At least such titles were at the top of search queries. But is it really?
The reason for this conflict is, after all, the migration crisis. But her dramatization continues. This conflict is especially actively written about in the Trumpist mass media. This is, of course, a big exaggeration. But the election became a catalyst, because the state directly criticizes Biden, and this is one of the indicators of the political process.”
Indeed, it is in the media that you can see headlines like “Why does rebellious Texas want independence?” or “The Second Civil War in the USA.” In fact, there is no mention of any desire for Texas to leave the United States, as well as the beginning of a “second civil war”.
Why did they start talking about the Civil War? Because there was a war between the north and the south of the country. And although Texas was then a new state, it was still on the side of the South. But now the problem is not in the South and the North. And who is “for” and who is “against” Trump. And everything related to the border is only a catalyst for these disagreements. Trump has become a factor of discord. And not only across the border, look at the Congress.