Lisa from our audience asks: “When Texas becomes independent, will everyone living in Texas automatically become citizens, or will citizenship be determined through negotiation?”
The answer is clear: citizenship in an independent Texas will not be automatic for everyone residing here at independence. According to Brexit negotiations, citizenship determination requires careful political agreements and legal frameworks, not blanket grants to all residents.
Daniel Miller and the Texas Nationalist Movement have outlined two primary scenarios for how citizenship would work. Under Scenario 1, all US citizens residing in Texas on independence day would automatically become Texas citizens, with the possibility of retaining dual citizenship if both nations allow it. Under Scenario 2, individuals would be required to choose between citizenships.
The mechanism would involve a negotiated treaty or series of legal agreements between the United States and independent Texas. These agreements would establish who qualifies by default for citizenship, any residency requirements or loyalty oaths, provisions preventing statelessness, and special arrangements for non-citizens and minorities.
International precedent supports this approach. During Brexit negotiations, the EU and UK spent years working out citizenship rights for millions of people. The withdrawal agreement addressed continuing residence rights for UK citizens living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK.
The process involves what international law calls “optation” – allowing residents to choose citizenship between old and new states. This is common in state breakups. Countries typically combine jus soli (birthright citizenship) and jus sanguinis (citizenship by descent) principles during transitions.
Examples include Antigua and Barbuda’s descent-based citizenship rules to protect diaspora populations, and Latvia’s post-USSR transitional citizenship laws addressing non-citizens. These precedents emphasize negotiation and legal frameworks rather than automatic citizenship grants.
For Texans born here but living elsewhere, Miller has indicated this would likely qualify them for citizenship, though he notes he cannot guarantee specific requirements. His consistent advice: “get here before you need a visa to get in.”
The federal government’s difficulty in stripping US citizenship means dual citizenship would likely be possible. Involuntary loss of US citizenship is extraordinarily difficult under the Fourteenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedents.
Like any self-governing independent nation, Texas would set its own border and citizenship policies. This would be one of the key benefits of independence. The process would involve several components: first, Texas would establish its own constitutional definition of citizenship. Miller suspects Texans would want this codified constitutionally rather than just statutorily.
Second, there would be statutory requirements to implement the citizenship framework. Third, international treaties and agreements would address the rights of Texans living abroad and foreign nationals in Texas. Finally, there would be negotiated issues with the US government, similar to how Brexit handled the rights of UK citizens in the EU and vice versa.
Miller has expressed personal support for an Australian-style point system for immigration, though he acknowledges this would ultimately be up to the people of Texas to decide. Border and immigration control is a major motivator for TEXIT supporters.
The power to make these decisions would be in Texan hands, not federal politicians. This represents a fundamental shift from the current system where Washington controls citizenship and immigration policy regardless of Texas preferences.
Historic data from the original Texas Republic era shows citizenship was granted selectively. Residents on independence day generally qualified except for certain excluded groups, with additional rules for immigrants including residency and loyalty oaths. Modern citizenship determination for a future independent Texas will likely involve large populations of diverse residents with varied legal statuses, requiring careful negotiation to set citizenship rules.
The bottom line: citizenship in independent Texas won’t happen automatically. It will be determined by Texans, for Texans, through the democratic process and international negotiation. This ensures citizenship policy serves Texas interests rather than federal mandates.
