The Brexit vote has boosted calls for secession in Texas and California, according to a report in
The Washington Times.
Britain's vote to cut ties with the European Union shows "there is a choice for people out there," Texas Nationalist Movement leader Daniel Miller said.
Miller said that, after Brexit, supporters around the U.S. have contacted his group looking for information about states separating from the United States.
"We're looking across the Atlantic and witnessing what to many is this surprising Euroskeptic movement," Miller said. "What's the most surprising is now the rearing of its head of the Ameroskeptic movement, or the federal skeptic movement."
Hashtags on social media included #Texit, #Calexit and #NHexit, some of which were likely joking, the Times reported. But the interest led to a comment by likely Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
"Texas would never do that if I'm president," Trump said.
The Texas Tribune found that Texas has no right to secede from the U.S. because of a Supreme Court ruling in 1869. The state could, however, divide into five states.
"Yes California," the California independence movement has gained more interest, according to the Times report.
Louis Marinelli, its leader, said that Brexit shows that secession is possible today, and it's not an antiquated Civil War-era idea.
"Now they have a modern day example of how it can happen peacefully and legally and constitutionally, and that's the path and process we intend to mimic here in California," he said.
Marinelli stated that California is similar to Britain in that residents of both feel disenfranchised by leaders, and they feel they are taxed unfairly. He said that the likely nominations of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton might also boost talk of secession.
"Our group recognizes both candidates have reason to cause California to leave," Marinelli said, according to
Newsweek.