[ad_1] There are dark warnings the US could slip into “civil war” due to a bizarre standoff in a Texas park that some fear could see different arms
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There are dark warnings the US could slip into “civil war” due to a bizarre standoff in a Texas park that some fear could see different arms of the American government in open and armed conflict with one another.
The federal Border Guards and Texas’ National Guard are now in a face-to-face confrontation to see who will blink first.
The epicentre of the feud is the municipal Shelby Park in the small Texan town of Eagle Pass which adjoins the Mexico border, 230km south west of San Antonio.
It is the job of Border Guards to patrol the border. But earlier this month Texas authorised its National Guard to take over the park. Normally a green patch with a golf course and baseball filed, the National Guard had now essentially militarised it.
The troops have strung up barbed wire and fencing in an attempt to reduce the number of people illegal crossing the frontier.
The government in Washington DC has demanded Texas remove the fortifications – or it will.
Last month, a record 225,000 migrants crossed the border illegally, many by wading through the dangerous Rio Grande river which separates Mexico and Texas.
Republican governors have accused the Joe Biden led Democratic government in Washington DC of not doing enough to stop the flow of migrants and so have claimed they have had to take matters into their own hands.
The federal government, in turn, has claimed Republicans are exacerbating the border issue by not passing beefed up security legislation.
There have also been accusations that presidential hopeful Donald Trump was actively encouraging Republicans to stymie any deal on the border in Congress so it can become an election issue.
The erection of barbed wire and fences is an escalation of tactics from Republican border states that have also taken to bussing newly arrived migrants, many from Central America, to Democratic run cities such as New York.
They have said they simply don’t have the capacity to deal with the influx.
In recent weeks, Texas Governor Greg Abbott – an unabashed critic of Mr Biden – launched “Operation Lone Star”.
“Because the Biden administration has really, truly abdicated its responsibility to secure the border and enforce the laws, Texas, very simply, is securing the border,” Mr Abbott told Fox News.
“Operation Lone Star has involved the Texas National Guard, a military reserve force that is under the dual control of the state and federal governments.
It’s usual role is to help with disaster relief, to support the US military and policing protests. While it is not unheard of for the various state National Guards to help bolster manpower at the border – that’s in co-operation with the Border Guards not in opposition too it.
The federal justice department has accused the Texas governor of preventing federal border agents from doing their job by denying them access to the border, even in the event of emergency, along a 3.7 kilometre stretch of the river.
It has said a mother and her two children died in the Rio Grande because border agents were not able to monitor the waterway.
Texas has said this isn’t the case and the park remains open.
Biden’s court win
The Biden administration took a case to the Supreme Court this week which voted to allow the federal government to remove the razor wire.
It was a notable win for Mr Biden as the Supreme Court leans conservative with three justices appointed by Mr Trump when he was in office.
Provocatively, the National Guard has unfurled even more wire since the Supreme Court ruling.
A slew of Republican governors have now backed Texas and said they are ready to truck in more barbed wire if needed.
For his part, Mr Abbott has said the National Guard will “hold the line” at Eagle Pass and “will not back down” in securing the border.
It’s causing exasperation in the Democratic Party which sees the actions as pure political theatre.
“Governor Greg Abbott is using the Texas National Guard to obstruct and create chaos at the border” Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro said.
He has suggested the Texas National Guard should be taken over entirely by Washington DC.
Trump encourages Texas
Mr Trump meanwhile has waded into the issue and encouraged “all willing states to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of illegals”.
“All Americans should support the common sense measures by Texas,” he added.
The impasse could see US Border Patrol officers and the Texas National Guard confronting each other at the park.
Online, there have been multiple suggestions the face off could lead to a “civil war”.
The term has been used not just by those who support Texas’ actions but also from academics who fear the country is so polarised some people would be happy to take up arms.
It seems farfetched that Border Guards and the National Guard would start fighting, particularly as the Texas troops could end up being prosecuted.
A constitutional lawyer from Texas has said the face off is due partly to increasingly belligerent states trying to grab more powers usually held by DC.
“There’s more here than just a petulant governor,” David Coale told the UK news website The Independent.
“It’s a broad strategy to change the balance of federal-state power, just like the long campaign to overturn Roe vs. Wade (which guaranteed abortion access country wide).
“You have a federal force and state force colliding with each other. That was a very difficult time,” he said referring to an incident in 1957 when federal troops were sent to Arkansas to ensure schools were desegregated.
“Those were not great moments in our nation’s history. To see that happening again is unfortunate,” Mr Coale said.
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