Steve Elliot, president of grassfire, recently queried CONgress on where the security fence along the border is. It seems that he can’t find it and that although approved, CONgress never funded the project. Although this may seem to be newsworthy, if you live in Texas and know the history, this latest episode should come as no surprise.

When Texas was brought into the Union (in violation of the Constitution), one of the promises made was that the United States would be providing border and frontier security. They sent the soldiers and built the forts, but the US did not pay for them. They gave the bill to the citizens of Texas, despite their promises. For sixteen years, they did not approve funds to patrol the borders. Even when armed Mexican groups led by Juan Cortina  took over the city of Brownsville, little was done to improve border security. Cortina went so far as to call himself a Texan and raise the Mexican tricolor above the city. He said the “the sight of gringos made him mad enough to eat little babies”.

The US did not pay for the security and border protection after Cortina’s atatack. They did not pay until taken to court in the 1870’s and forced by a judge to pay the bill. It amounts to almost 30 years before they paid. Were the citizens of Texas angry? You bet! 30 years is a long time to delaypayment on an honest debt. It was a breach of contract . If they took 30+ years to pay before, how long will they take this time?

If you had never heard of this episode of Texas history before, perhaps you need to consider purchasing Texans Always Move Them: A True History of Texas. Since history repeats itself, it helps to know about the precedents for the actions of the current occupational government.

Free Texas!

J Murrah

border fence, border security, brownsville texas, Constitutional law, Culture, frontier security, grassfire, Juan Cortina, Steve Elliot

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