Palestine, Tibet, and Catalonia may be the best-known independence movements in the world right now, but there are some independence movements going on here in the Unites States. One is Texit — independence for Texas. Sure, the name is a play on “Brexit,” but it arguably works better for Texas than for Britain.
Support for Texas Independence
Texas actually used to be independent. Texas declared independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836 and was immediately recognized as an independent nation by the United States, Britain, and France. Texas requested U.S. statehood right away but was not admitted until 1845. Texas functioned as an independent nation while it waited. However, Mexico did not agree. This uncertainty, along with concerns about slavery, delayed statehood for Texas for some time. Still, even though statehood was the ultimate goal of Texan leaders when they declared independence, they were independent for nearly a decade.
“Texas is a nation with a distinct culture, economy, and government,” according to the Texas Nationalist Movement. This is similar to the culture preservation argument that Puerto Rican separatists make.
Texans who seek independence also would like to keep current U.S.-based economic resources, similar to the situation in Catalonia. Texas is the second richest state in the nation, trailing only California. If it were to become independent, Texas would have a larger economy than Canada or Russia. Of course, this assumes that independence would not cause economic collapse. Texit supporters imagine that Texas could negotiate terms with the federal government, saying, “It is far easier to negotiate a free trade agreement with a Texas that’s on its way out the door than it is to militarily occupy its capital in Austin.”
Texas is on an equal footing with all other states, so there is no suggestion that Texans are mistreated or facing injustice. However, members of the Texit movement believe that their representatives in Washington are thinking about what’s good for the country as a whole rather than putting the interests of Texas first. They believe that an independent Republic of Texas would reflect their personal views better than a federal government looking out for all 50 states.
Hurdles to Texas Independence
Texas may be rich, but one reason for its wealth is that about one third of its revenue — $105 billion in 2024 — comes from the federal government. Like Puerto Rican separatists, Texan separatists imagine an independent republic that still gets benefits from the federal government, uses U.S. currency, continues to have the same trade relationship with the U.S., and keeps the businesses that provide its revenue — including, in the case of Texas, many federal defense contractors and much of the U.S. space program. These businesses would simply have to relocate to the states still in the U.S. to survive. Many businesses in other industries could also seek to leave Texas rather than take the chance of remaining in a new, uncertain nation.
In a typical year, well over a third of Texans live in households that receive at least one major federal benefit (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid/CHIP, SNAP, or TANF), and many households have more than one program at once (for example, grandparents on Social Security and Medicare caring for kids on Medicaid and getting SNAP). A new Republic of Texas would have to have a plan to address the economic and personal implications of the end of U.S. federal assistance.
Many Texans would also leave, since a new nation of Texas could expect to lose U.S. citizenship. Everyone who wanted to retain U.S. citizenship could simply move to Oklahoma or another neighboring state. The loss of population would further jeopardize the economy of the new nation of Texas.
The majority of Texans don’t want independence, just as the majority of Puerto Ricans do not want an independent Puerto Rico. In a poll asking their votes in a hypothetical referendum, 67% of Texans said they would vote for statehood, while 23% chose independence. That’s more than twice as many votes as independence received in the 2024 referendum in Puerto Rico, but it’s nowhere near enough to win.
Even if Texas wanted to secede, it legally can’t. The Supreme Court case of Texas vs. White made it clear that the United States is “an indestructible union of indestructible states,” with no option for states to declare independence.
Will it happen?
Just as in Puerto Rico, there is a small but vocal group of separatists in Texas. They have not yet been able to persuade the state government to hold a referendum, and they would clearly lose if such a vote were held. Still, there are many more Texans supporting independence than there are Puerto Ricans supporting independence.
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