Demographics are destiny, they say, but apparently destiny can sometimes be derailed or distorted—that is, if Texas has anything to say about it, the Lone Star State is currently 40% Latino demographic projections say that by 2040, that figure could grow to 50%. Now, this shouldn’t be so surprising to people, and especially to people who live in Texas, not for nothing. But we’re talking about a big chunk of land that used to belong to Mexico, before the mid 1800s, when a bunch of white people from states like Missouri and Tennessee, invaded the territory and tried to bring their black slaves with them, even though the Mexican said, No, you can’t do that. Of course, the state of Texas or test, if you prefer, was always going to be heavily Latino, and becoming more so all the time, due in large part to immigration and higher birth rates among immigrants.
A lot of white people are panicking about all this. And they would love to reverse those demographic changes, or at least stop them in their tracks. So much so that when you break down the anxiety that Americans feel about the issue of immigration, which pollsters say is now the number one concern in this election, I would say that at least half of the worry has to do with something that people never talk about out loud: demographics.
You’ve probably heard about the great replacement theory, a right-wing conspiracy popular with white supremacists that suggests white people are being pushed around and pushed out by massive waves of immigrants. The fear is that they’re going to be replaced or at least displaced. Well, they say somebody has to do something to stop this. So here comes Texas, where Republican Governor Greg Abbott is drawing the line with an immigration law that he says will scare off as many undocumented immigrants as possible, maybe even some legal immigrants who are afraid that they might be mistaken for undocumented.
To turn back the clock, Abbott will need a magic wand. Or maybe just a state immigration law that allows local and state cops to enforce federal immigration statutes by arresting people who they suspect are in the country illegally—read Latinos. Even though Abbott is a former Texas Attorney General, his grasp on basic legal concepts like the federal Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and the fact that only the federal government can make immigration policy is so weak that it makes me wonder if whatever law school he attended also doubles as the rodeo clown college.
It’s no wonder that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently blocked the law from being enforced. Because it’s not clear that’s constitutional. The smart money bet is that’s not not that avid cares much one way or another what the courts say. He’s not in this for the law. He only cares about the politics. Supporting this divisive and unlawful piece of legislation is how Abbott shows Republican voters in Texas and around the country, that he’s a tough guy who will keep Texas and the whole country safe from what Republicans describe as an invasion along the US Mexico border. Best of all, Abbott doesn’t have to do the really hard thing. You know, the thing that would really take courage, and that’s going after all those Texans who hire the undocumented, to do their chores, to carry out every job imaginable because a lot of Americans don’t want to work anymore. See, taking on employers is scary employers fight back. So Abbott would rather just go after the poor and the weak, a bunch of desperate, largely uneducated non citizens who can’t vote through what they say everything is bigger in Texas, even the cowards.
Then, aside from the politics, there’s the demographics. Texas Republicans don’t have a prayer of winning elections over the next 20 years in the state. If Texas continues to go down the road that’s on now and becomes more and more Latino. See, the Texas immigration law is the last gasp of those who want to change that reality. Silly Texas Republicans don’t you understand? You don’t spit in the wind. And you don’t make enemies out of those who will soon make up the majority.