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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   31699 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023

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It’s a very bad move for conservative state governments to take border control into their own hands because the inevitable result is California officially opening the floodgates to unlimited illegal immigration on the basis that the federal government can’t do shit to stop them. Sanctuary state is one thing, “come have your anchor baby in California” advertisements across Central America is another.

Sanctuary state is one thing, “come have your anchor baby in California” advertisements across Central America is another.

They're the same picture.

I don’t know, I think you think it couldn’t be worse, but it could.

In a sane world, the result would be that the federal government accepts the assistance from Texas and focuses its efforts on dealing with California, because one central role of a federal government is controlling borders. The problem isn't Texas usurping federal authority, it's that the federal government actively undermines the existence of national borders.

I don't see how that would work. Texas isn't taking down Federally placed border control obstacles or taking control of border crossing checkpoints. They're simply installing more obstacles on the border. Is your supposition that this would inflame California to take down Federally placed obstacles (fences, walls) and to evict the Federal Border Guards from the crossing points and just throw them open? Because that's a whole level of escalation that I don't believe is even plausible at this time.

You’re correct that California has no control over ICE. But if California, say, fully bans e-verify (something they’ve tried to do for years), what’s the federal government going to do, send in the national guard?

The standard playbook is to withhold federal funds until they come back in compliance.

California- and lots of other states- are already out of compliance with federal drug law, so this depends on ‘is anyone going to enforce it’.

Sure, they could ban E-Verify, but that's hardly the same level as "opening the floodgates."

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