Boundaries and Blessing: A Biblical Look at Texas and Minnesota

In an unusual quirk of winter, north Texas has been covered in ice this week, shuttering businesses, schools, and even the mail delivery for days.It is also covered by ICE, in the immigration and customs enforcement sense.So, Minnesota and Texas, though on opposite borders, share some commonalities right now.

But not really.Did you know that Texas accounts for roughly 25% of the nation's ICE arrests and detentions? Just one state, 25%. That’s far more than in Minnesota, or any other state. Yet, Texas is peaceful.Down here, it is relatively calm, while up at the north end of I-35, Minnesota threatens to tear the whole nation apart over far less. What gives? 

Let’s take a quick look.

First, the people's attitudes are miles apart. Texans, like most Americans, believe that having borders is a good thing and that visitors should enter through the proper channels. Knowing who comes in keeps us safer and keeps immigration at a reasonable level.

Crossing the border illegally isn’t the worst crime a person can commit, but it is still a crime, and if you get caught, they send you home.

Now, a typical Texan reading this will respond with, “Yep, sounds about right.”

But when the folks up in Minneapolis hear that, they flip out, responding with a gnashing of teeth, storming of churches, and kicking in of SUV taillights. 

That reaction seems bizarre to most Americans.

But it’s not just the public reaction that is different between the two states; it’s also the laws. 

And frankly, that’s an even bigger deal.

In Texas, local law enforcement is required to cooperate with federal immigration law. In Minnesota, they are not. In fact, they are discouraged from doing so in many parts of the state. “Not our job,” says Governor Walz, and he likens immigration enforcement to Nazi secret police.

When someone is arrested in Texas, they may be sentenced to jail. But whether jailed or not, if the local officials discover that the person is also an illegal immigrant, ICE is informed. ICE comes and gets them.

This information is very helpful to immigration authorities because they can’t be everywhere at all times, and frankly, we don’t want them everywhere at all times.

Minnesota, on the other hand, like many blue areas, does not inform ICE when it has a criminal in custody. When they are done detaining them, they just let them go.Mind you, these people have been —- again — arrested. They are not arrested for mowing your lawn or making chimichangas down at Los Amigos restaurant. They are arrested because they did something that warrants arrest. 

You would think every law enforcement official would say, “Maybe this isn’t the kind of person we want coming into our nation from overseas. Here’s a chance to follow the law AND make our state safer. That’s basically our job anyway, so let’s call ICE.”But they don’t.

Laken Riley was infamously murdered in such a case. Murdered by an illegal immigrant, three times arrested, and three times released. Hers is but one of many such tragedies, made all the more tragic since it was so easily avoidable. 

But no. Instead, Minnesota opens the door and out walks the dude back into public life. After all, they are “sanctuary cities,” so they claim, at least for the criminals. But not much of a sanctuary for the innocent.And why? Just to stick a thumb in the eye of Donald Trump? Is that why?Remember, in Texas, ICE drives to the police station to pick up the bad guy. Then they leave. 

Not in Minnesota. There, ICE drives around the streets and neighborhoods, still trying to do the job of finding the guy that local officials just released. A job now made infinitely harder by officials, and infinitely more dangerous by civilians screaming, honking, and obstructing their way.It’s also worth noting that in patrolling like this, ICE is more likely to encounter other illegal immigrants living with or near the man released. When they find them, they are obligated to detain and deport them also.

This blatant disregard for federal law, the deliberate obstruction and endangerment of federal officials doing their jobs, is hard to describe as anything other than an insurrection against the federal government.They don’t even appear to want to change the immigration laws. They just want…whatever this is.

Jesus told us that a house divided against itself can not stand. Minneapolis is a house divided. The fruit of that is chaos and death, and we can not continue in this vein.

Texas, despite far more opportunities for conflict, is the opposite. In Texas, state lawmakers are not fighting federal lawmakers. Texas citizens are not pitted against fellow Americans.Texans are living as a nation of laws, seeking a functional immigration system, and cooperating to keep the bad guys out. 

Minnesota should follow suit. A house undivided is really pretty nice.