There have been efforts to promote Texas secession in the state at least since the 1990s.
[13] At this time, Richard Lance McLaren founded the
Republic of Texas organization based on his property called the Davis Mountains Resort in
Jeff Davis County, becoming the most active and influential secession group at the time. Essentially the organization claimed that the United States annexed Texas illegally and considered it to be held captive. The organization held itself out as an alternative government, based on the principle of very limited powers.
[4]
McLaren had both supporters and enemies. His supporters generally believed that globalization was a threat to constitutional rights and against Christian principles.
[14] Tactics of the group included filing liens against properties, disavowing state and federal authorities, and opening an "embassy". McLaren's legal filings were so numerous that the county clerk gave them a separate cabinet.
[14] Members of the Republic of Texas group listed grievances with the U.S. government, such as accusing the government of a corrupt judicial system, paganism, and of creating illegal treaties and illegitimate agencies. Members of the group also stated that the U.S. government had set itself above the people and had exercised its global influences unlawfully against the Constitution. The Republic of Texas members placed a lot of emphasis on the
Branch Davidian incident near Waco as an example of all that was wrong with the U.S. government.
[4]
In the summer of 1996, injunctions and other court proceedings against McLaren were well underway. In July of that year, McLaren held a press conference a block away from the state courthouse in Austin stating that he refused to appear because he did not recognize the legitimacy of the court.
[4] McLaren was jailed for a month by a federal judge for failing to show in court. After his release, McLaren's rhetoric grew stronger.
[14][15][16] In March 1997, he wrote to the federal government to claim 93 trillion dollars in reparations to Texas for the Civil War.
[14] By this time, the Republic of Texas organization had fractured into three factions. When two of McLaren's groups were arrested, McLaren took two hostages and holed up with armed supporters on his property, leading to a standoff with
Texas Department of Public Safety .
[4][14] However, the siege ended with McLaren and twelve others giving up without violence.
[14] In November of that year, McLaren was convicted of kidnapping and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
[4] McLaren was also convicted of federal mail fraud and bank fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.
[17] He is imprisoned at the William P. Clements Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, near Amarillo, Texas, and is scheduled for release on June 15, 2041.
[18]
As of 2003, there were three groups that claimed to be the Republic of Texas with different web sites, but without McLaren named as a leader
