As a Texan, I have a specific opinion of our governor, Greg Abbott. No one can doubt that he’s involved in many Texan communities or that he’s the type to take action. But for too long, Abbott has gone too far.
On Oct. 5, Abbott and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds showcased their apathy to suffering and their dedication to furthering the fracturing of a broken system. At her seventh annual Harvest Festival at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Reynolds touted the border crisis and Kamala Harris’ record as she spoke about the upcoming presidential election.
Reynolds said that she had invited Abbott to give a “real, raw account of the mess Kamala Harris has made at the southern border.” Reynolds went so far as to mispronounce Harris’ first name.
Abbott was the keynote speaker at the event and thanked Reynolds, the Iowa State Legislature and Iowan taxpayers for sending Iowa National Guard troops and law enforcement officers to the southern border as part of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. He did forget to thank them for funding weaponry and illegal tactics that went on to kill people, though smiling while discussing an operation that’s killed dozens, including U.S. citizens, was a nice touch. But the implications of that operation and of the parallels between Texas and Iowa are more significant than a mere thank you.
Operation Lone Star started in 2021 and deployed the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety to secure the border, citing insufficient federal immigration action. Since then, the operation has been at constant odds with the federal government court system and has cost over $11.2 billion. Just in case you thought the government was efficient with money, that’s the equivalent of $60 million a week for Texas’ taxpayers since the initiative began.
And how is Operation Lone Star using that money? In the most aggressive, wasteful way possible. It has denied migrants the opportunity to seek asylum, violating U.S. law. It has arrested thousands, and hundreds have been in jail for months while they await trial. It has taken private property from border communities and turned them into pseudo-warzones. It has authorized helicopters flying overhead and racial profiling on town streets and in grocery stores. It has placed razor wire and nets in the Rio Grande that catch and drown the families and children crossing in hopes of a better life. It has fundamentally denied humanity and human rights to thousands in a proxy battle with the federal government over partisan differences that come at a massive financial, moral and human cost.
At the beginning of 2024, Reynolds joined 24 other Republican governors in signing a statement, misciting constitutional law and falsely asserting Texas’ Operation Lone Star as being part of the state’s constitutional right to self-defense. Apparently, Harris’ name wasn’t the only thing Reynolds couldn’t get right. Not only is the statement’s constitutional defense incorrect, but the 2012 Supreme Court ruling in Arizona v. The United States makes the matter clear — the federal government maintains supremacy over the immigration system, not the states. But it’s not just Texas that’s having a hard time minding its own business.
In the spring of 2024, the Iowa Senate passed a bill that would allow local authorities to arrest those previously deported or denied entry to the U.S., and Reynolds signed that bill into law. True to character, Reynolds ignored that local authorities are both not allowed to execute that law and not trained to do so. This bill is a near carbon-copy of a similar law that Abbott signed into law in Texas. Perhaps Iowa was not creative enough to find a new way to discriminate against vulnerable people and violate the Constitution at the same time. It’s not hard to imagine that Iowa’s political system drew inspiration from Texas’ immigration laws, but nevertheless, the prospects are concerning; it’s easy to foresee intentional and increased racial profiling and discrimination.
A case was brought before a federal court, which ruled in June that the law was unconstitutional. Not only does that correlate with the 2012 SCOTUS ruling, but that has also been the same fate of several other Texas immigration laws and parts of Operation Lone Star, so one would think these legislatures would have figured it out by now. Yet, that may be too much to ask. The Iowa law currently sits in a federal appeals court. In the meantime, Iowa communities live in fear of the impact that this law will have if it ever makes its way out of the judiciary. Some have left the state entirely, abandoning their families, communities and hometowns, while others are waiting to see what happens next.
This is not my story. But it is a story that needs to be told. As a White girl born in the United States, I will never truly know the personal impacts these types of dehumanizing and immoral laws and actions have. I don’t even live on the border; I live in Dallas. But I have a vested interest in addressing the harms I’ve seen and the ones I learn about. More than having friends, schoolmates and community members facing the ramifications of reckless and discriminatory legislation, I know that this is about dehumanization, oppression and bigotry.
When it comes to immigration, the governors are acting illegally and inhumanely, merely to score points against the Biden — and now potentially Harris — administration in a game of partisan politics. It needs to end.
