Texas Could Get 'Own Military' Within Weeks: Secessionist

Texas could have its own military "within weeks" if Governor Greg Abbott dramatically increased funding and recruitment for its State Guard, a leading independence campaigner said.

Daniel Miller, the president of Texas Nationalist Movement, a secessionist organization, discussed strengthening the State Guard during a "Late Night Coffee Talk Live" question and answer session on May 8.

In recent months, tensions have surged between Texan authorities and the federal government over subjects such as illegal immigration and reform to Title IX anti-discrimination legislation in education.

On January 22, the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents could remove razor wire placed along the border with Mexico on Abbott's orders by Texas National Guard troops. In response, Abbott said his state was being "invaded" and invoked its "constitutional authority to defend and protect itself," leading some Democrats to argue that the Texas National Guard should be brought under federal control.

During his Q&A session, which the TNM broadcast on Facebook, Miller was asked whether there were "any plans to pressure Abbott to convert the Texas National Guard into State Guard to circumvent federalization?"

Miller said: "We've said that the State Guard should be fully militarized, should be fully funded. It's our belief that Operation Lone Star should have been funds shifted for a full militarization and deployment of the State Guard.

"Open that enlistment wide up for prior service military to come in there. We could effectively, within weeks, have our own military."

Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 as a collaboration between the Texas Military Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. On April 12, the governor announced that 507,200 migrants suspected of entering the country illegally had been detained under the program.

Speaking to Newsweek, Miller said: "If Texas were to divert all of its Operation: Lone Star funds to bolstering and deploying the Texas State Guard for border operations, the number of State Guard personnel would likely increase to between 30,000 and 50,000."

Newsweek also contacted Governor Greg Abbott for comment by email.

In 2017, the Texas Military Department reported, the Texas National Guard had about 21,000 members, while the Texas State Guard had almost 1,900 personnel.

Miller said federal authorities had an incentive to try to weaken the Texas National Guard.

"We're seeing the federal government already start to make these underhanded attempts to sap the National Guard, and I would say that Governor Abbott is going to be in a bit of a predicament here, particularly with the border issue where it is.

"If the federal government senses that there is a weak spot there that they can exploit, where they can sap the National Guard from the state, then Texas will have no choice but to double down on the state guard."

In February, a survey conducted exclusively for Newsweek found that in a hypothetical independence referendum, 23 percent of Texans would vote for the state to become "an independent country," while 67 percent would support Texas remaining "a state within the United States."

Speaking to Newsweek in December, Joshua Blank, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin, said he didn't believe Texas could leave the U.S. peacefully.

He said: "I think history has made clear that there is no plausible scenario in which Texas could peacefully extract itself from the United States, even were that the will of its populous—which there is no indication of to my knowledge."

Update 5/15/24, 03:10 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Daniel Miller.