Hispanic people now make up the largest ethnic group in Texas, according to the latest U.S. census data, and almost half of all minors in the state are Hispanic or Latino. This data feeds the fears of some right-wing Americans who believe in the “great replacement” theory. The theory states that non-white populations are displacing or “replacing” white populations as the dominant ethnic group. Crucially, the theory goes on to suggest that these new ethnic majorities will then either discriminate against white minorities, erase their culture, or will even condone violence against them.
Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette says that Texas is only going to continue becoming more and more Hispanic and suggests that conservatives move beyond their fears of ethnic replacement.
A lot of white people are panicked about all this and they would love to reverse those demographic changes, or at least stop them in their tracks — so much so that when you break down the anxiety that Americans feel about the issue of immigration, which pollsters say is now the number one concern in this election, I would say that at least half of the worry has to do with something that people never talk about out loud: demographics.
You’ve probably heard about The Great Replacement Theory, a right-wing conspiracy popular with white supremacists that suggests white people are being pushed around and pushed out by massive waves of immigrants. The fear is that they’re going to be replaced, or at least displaced. Well, they say somebody has to do something to stop this. So here comes Texas, where Republican Governor Greg Abbott is drawing the line with an immigration law that he says will scare off as many undocumented immigrants as possible, maybe even some legal immigrants who are afraid that they might be mistaken for undocumented.
To turn back the clock, Abbott will need a magic wand. Or maybe just a state immigration law that allows local and state cops to enforce federal immigration statutes by arresting people who they suspect are in the country illegally — read Latinos. Even though Abbott is a former Texas attorney general, his grasp on basic legal concepts like the federal supremacy clause of the Constitution and the fact that only the federal government can make immigration policy is so weak that it makes me wonder if whatever law school he attended also doubles as the rodeo clown college. It’s no wonder that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently blocked the law from being enforced.