Texas Government Preparing for Secession, Group Suggests

Texas Governor Greg Abbott could be taking "initial steps just in case" he feels forced to take the Lone Star State out of the United States and establish it as a fully independent nation, according to a leading Texan nationalist.

The claim was made by Daniel Miller, president of the pro-independence Texas Nationalist Movement, on an episode of his Texas News podcast released on Monday.

Abbott has made a number of high-profile foreign trips recently, including to India, Israel and the United Kingdom, where he signed a "statement of mutual cooperation" with British Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch in 10 Downing Street.

Speaking on his podcast, Miller claimed Abbott had made "several international trips lately that could indicate Texit is on the horizon."

Miller explained: "You had meetings and agreements that were signed between Texas and France, Texas and Finland, you've had recent meetings with India, Australia, UK, one of the foreign ministers I believe from Germany. It just seems that here recently in the last few weeks, the last couple of months, this is beginning to happen at an accelerated pace."

In December 2022 Abbott signed an economic partnership agreement with Finland followed by a statement of intent with French Minister Olivier Becht in July 2023.

In March 2024 he hosted the Australian ambassador and German Minister for Economic Affairs in Austin.

Miller noted that "it's very clear that the statements of international cooperation are not to be viewed as treaties or any type of legally binding international agreement." However he questioned whether there's "something else afoot here."

Referring to Abbott's standoff with the federal government over illegal immigration into Texas from Mexico, Miller added: "It may not be about Texas leaving the Union but it might be about taking some of those initial steps just in case Greg Abbott feels forced to do so."

Newsweek has contacted the office of Governor Greg Abbott for comment by email.

On January 22 the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents can remove razor wire placed along the border by the Texas National Guard. This sparked a furious response from Abbott who claimed his state was being subject to an "invasion" and invoked its "constitutional authority to defend and protect itself."

On Tuesday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals suspended Texas's Senate Bill 4, which had been signed into law by Abbott, just hours after the Supreme Court ruled in its favor in a 6-3 judgment. The legislation would allow Texan law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants suspected of being in the country illegally—a controversial move, as this has traditionally been seen as a federal responsibility.

According to a Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey, conducted for Newsweek in February, 23 percent of Texans would vote for the state to become "an independent country" in a hypothetical independence referendum, versus 67 percent who would prefer to remain "a state within the United States."

However 44 percent of those polled said the current migration crisis would make them either more likely or significantly more likely to back independence, with just 16 percent saying it would make them less likely to vote for secession and 35 percent for whom it made no difference.