2024 Texas Border Crisis

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Overview

The 2024 Texas Border Crisis refers to a standoff between Republican governors with the U.S. federal government over immigration on the Texas border. In January 2024 the American Supreme Court sided with the Biden Administration against Texas Governor Greg Abbott when it vacated a lower court’s ruling that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the razor wire to apprehend people who had crossed the river. Abbott continued to publicly challenge the ruling, garnering the support of 25 Republican governors and instigating a series of debates on the internet. His supporters also started to share I Stand With Texas messages on social media, using memes, parody videos, comedy skits and other memetic formats as a show of protest.

Background

On January 22nd, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Texas to allow federal border agents access to the state’s border^[1] with Mexico where state officials have deployed miles of concertina wire (razor wire). Prior to this, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott had been embroiled in court battles with the Biden Administration over its use of razor wire and floating buoys at the border.

On the same day, @CBSNews posted a video on YouTube^[2] breaking down the "Supreme Court's ruling in Texas razor wire case." The video (shown below) amassed over 73,000 likes and 838 likes in five days.

Developments

Republican Governors Support For Texas

A coalition of 25 Republican governors released a joint statement^[3] on January 25th, 2024, in support of Abbott’s efforts to exercise what he declares is Texas’ “constitutional right to self-defense.” Texas' governor posted a video on his X^[4] account that same day (shown below), saying, "The Biden Administration has truly abdicated its responsibility to enforce the immigration laws on the books." The video amassed over 1 million views and 47,000 likes in a day.

Also on on January 25th, the National Desk^[5] uploaded a video on YouTube further explaining their stance against the Biden Administration order, amassing more than 22,000 views and 665 likes in a day.

Online Reaction

The Texas border crisis became a trending topic across multiple platforms in late January 2024 as Abbott's sympathizers started to use the catchphrase "I Stand With Texas" to share content in support of maintaining the Governor's decisions to keep the razor wire and floating buoys at the border.

For instance, on January 26th, 2024, X^[6] user @TONYxTWO uploaded a video of a man riding a horse while holding the United States flag and the phrase "We Stand With Texas" above. The post received roughly 91,000 views and 7,000 likes in a few hours (seen below).

#NationalDivorce and #Texit

Also in late January 2024, a movement started amid the border crisis debate on social media in which people started to call for a "National divorce" between the state of Texas and the Biden Administration. The hashtags "#NationalDivorce" and "#Texit" became two of the main keywords used on social media for content supporting the idea of Texas starting a civil war to defend the border. For instance, on January 22nd, 2024, X^[7] user @DabneyRL uploaded an image of the Texas state flag paired with the text "Texit Now" written inside. The image (shown below, top) received more than 200 likes and 67 retweets in five days.

On January 26th, X^[8] user @1864Memes uploaded a Kill La Kill cosplay as an image macro suggesting the Biden Administration was to start a war in Texas (shown below, bottom). The image garnered over 130 likes and 23 retweets in a few hours.

Governor Greg Abbott In New Delhi

As tensions between Texas and the Biden Administration escalated on January 22nd, 2024, netizens noticed that Governor Greg Abbott was meeting with Indian industry executives in New Delhi, India. The diplomatic event became the subject of memes and jokes on X over the following days.

For example, X^[9] user @francisxwolf stated Abbott "started a civil war and just bounced." On January 26th, 2024, X^[10] user @ettingermentum replied to the Governor's tweet about his New Delhi meeting saying, "No fucking way he’s in India," which amassed over 16,000 likes and 670 retweets in a few hours (seen below).