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Gov. Greg Abbott visited the Rio Grande Valley on Monday to pump more money into a three-year effort to stop illegal immigration at the Texas-Mexico border and to encourage Texas law enforcement to stop illegal immigrants anywhere in Texas. He signed three bills giving him the power to arrest people. situation.
Senate Bill 3 would allocate $1.54 billion in state funds to continue construction of barriers along 1,200 miles of the border and increase the state's largest number of state troopers patrolling the Colony Ridge housing development near Houston. A far-right publication claims it will authorize the spending of $40 million. It is a magnet for illegal immigrants.
The funding would be in addition to at least $1.5 billion in contracts the state has issued since September 2021 to build about 40 miles of border barriers. As of August, Texas had constructed 26 miles of steel bollard barriers in Starr, Cameron, Val Verde, and Webb counties.
Senate Bill 4 would create a state crime for illegal border crossings from Mexico, a new law that would likely force a legal showdown with the federal government.
Another Senate Bill 4, passed by lawmakers during the third special session earlier this year, would increase the minimum sentence for smuggling or operating a hiding place from two years to 10 years.
Legislation to fund the border wall and make illegal border crossing a national crime will go into effect in early March. The human smuggling law will come into effect in early February.
Abbott, who traveled to Brownsville to sign the bill on Monday, said Texas needs to protect itself from drug cartels and criticized Democratic President Joe Biden's administration's immigration policies.
“Mr. Biden's deliberate inaction has left Texas with no choice but to fend for itself,” Abbott said.
Immigrant rights groups, Democrats and former immigration judges said SB4, which makes illegal border crossings a national crime, is unconstitutional because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.
Federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have ruled that immigration laws can only be enforced by the federal government. But some Texas Republicans are hopeful that the new law's addition to the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three appointees from former President Donald Trump, will delay the issue. said.
This law would make it a national crime to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry. The new crime is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison. Repeat offenders could be charged with a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison.
The law allows judges to drop charges if the migrants agree to return to Mexico.
“These measures not only threaten the safety and dignity of asylum seekers, but they also risk undermining the fundamental principles of our legal system,” said Dr. CEO Krish Omara Vignaraja said. Settle in the United States “Immigration is clearly a federal authority, and this law intentionally dances on a constitutional cliffhanger at the expense of vulnerable children and families.”
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) sent a letter signed by other Democrats asking the U.S. Department of Justice to sue Texas to prevent the law from taking effect.
“We assert federal immigration and foreign policy authority and urge you to take legal action as necessary to prevent enforcement of this unconstitutional and dangerous law,” the letter reads. .
In a separate statement, 30 former immigration judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic administrations called the bill unconstitutional.
“The Texas bill that would allow state court judges to issue removal orders is illegal. Immigration is clearly a function of the federal government,” the statement said. “For the same reason that the U.S. Congress cannot enact Texas laws, state legislatures cannot enact immigration laws.For the same reason that federal immigration judges cannot decide criminal cases in Texas, state magistrate judges cannot decide on immigration proceedings. I can’t.”
Under the new law, immigrants who refuse to return immediately to Mexico will be transported by police to a port of entry after they serve their sentence, at which point they could be charged with a felony for refusing to return to Mexico.
The new law could face potential obstacles if the Mexican government refuses to accept certain migrants during deportation. Professors and former Mexican immigration officials said Mexico has no obligation to accept non-Mexican immigrants deported from Texas.
Asked what Texas would do if Mexico doesn't accept migrants deported by the state, Abbott said at a news conference: “We're going to send them right back to Mexico.”
The new law prohibits police from arresting immigrants at public or private schools. churches and other places of worship; Medical facility; A facility that provides forensic examinations to sexual assault victims. The bill does not prohibit arrests on college or university campuses.
Texas is not the first state to give police the power to go after illegal immigrants. In 2010, the Arizona Legislature passed Senate Bill 1070, making it a state crime for legal immigrants to not carry immigration documents and requiring police to investigate the immigration status of anyone they come in contact with. In a landmark 2012 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local police do not have the authority to arrest people based solely on immigration status, and said the responsibility lies with the federal government.
