DALLAS (Texas): Texas will begin authorising state and local police to arrest migrants believed to be in the state illegally and granting state judges the power to order them to return to Mexico, under a new law signed by Governor Greg Abbott on Monday, reported German news agency (dpa).
The sweeping and controversial proposal is scheduled to take effect in early 2024, but some civil rights groups have already said they would file a lawsuit over the bill — which is likely destined to reach the US Supreme Court.
At a bill signing ceremony in front of the steel wall the state is erecting along the border, Abbott again blamed President Joe Biden, saying his failure in enforcing federal immigration laws has resulted in Texas attempting to curb down on immigration.
“Joe Biden’s deliberate inaction has decimated America,“ Abbott said.
In March 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, the multibillion dollar border security initiative that has used trespassing on private land as cause to arrest migrants believed to be in Texas illegally.
But Senate Bill Four goes further than any previous measures Abbott has signed.
The law creates a new state crime — illegal entry from a foreign nation — which will allow the state to charge migrants with a Class B misdemeanour, punishable by up to six months in jail or a US$2,000 fine. The penalty could increase to a state jail felony if they have been previously convicted of the crime.
It will allow state judges to order the expulsion of migrants to the country from which they entered — presumably Mexico.
Mexican officials, Congressional Democrats and migrant activists, as well as Texas citizens, have criticised Abbott, saying the bill would lead to discrimination against Hispanic, Latino Texans and other residents of colour.
About four dozen people protested the law — and Abbott’s immigration policies — a few hours before the governor signed the measure. A man dressed up as Santa stood next to a piñata of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and said Abbott was on the “naughty list”.
Ramona Casas of ARISE Adelante, a group that organises residents of colonias in the Rio Grande Valley, said the law is likely to lead to racial profiling of people of colour, as well as family separations. A lot of the measures are cruel, she said.
“To me, this isn’t the right way,“ Casas said in Spanish. “In reality, migrants, historically, have done so much for this country’s economy.”
Abbott also signed on Monday a separate bill, known as Senate Bill Three, allocating US$1.54 billion in funding for the state to continue building a state border wall similar to the one built under former president Donald Trump.
Republican state leaders, including Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dade Phelan, have all praised Senate Bill Four, referring to it as the strongest border security bill ever passed. But not all GOP officials agree. Senator Brian Birdwell, Granbury representative, who chairs the chamber’s Border Security committee, said the bill was unconstitutional and voted against it.
Abbott said Monday that the bill was crafted with an approach that shouldn’t get caught up in litigation. He argued Texas has the constitutional right to enforce immigration laws. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 in Arizona vs United States that Congress and the federal government have authority over federal immigration policies.
“But we also welcome a Supreme Court decision that would overturn the precedent set in the Arizona case,“ Abbott said.
The new conservative majority on the court previously has overturned Roe vs Wade and affirmative action. Conservatives believe the justices might walk back some of the precedents set in the Arizona decision.
If the law does end up getting caught up in legal proceedings, it would be the third case where Texas is attempting to defend its border security policies.
The two other cases have so far not gone in Texas’ favour. The Justice Department sued Abbott over the summer after the governor installed a 1,000-foot-long (305 metres) barrier of buoys in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. A federal court and federal appeals court have both ruled against the state’s arguments that it did not violate a 19th-century law that prohibits construction on navigable waterways.
Abbott has said he would appeal the ruling from the three-judge panel to the entire Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most conservative appellate courts in the country.
The second lawsuit is one led by Attorney-General Ken Paxton, who sued the Department of Homeland Security and accused border patrol agents of destroying state property when agents cut through razor wire the state installed along the river banks of the Rio Grande. Paxton was seeking a preliminary injunction in the case.
A federal judge denied the injunction despite being critical of the Biden administration’s handling of immigration enforcement. The state appealed to the Fifth Circuit.
Another roadblock could come if Mexico refuses to accept migrants Texas tries to send back to its foreign neighbour.
Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena condemned the bill as it headed to Abbott’s desk, but she did not clarify if officials would reject migrants.
Asked Monday what would happen if Mexico refused to accept them, Abbott criticised Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador before saying Texas would not accept that.
“We’re going to send them right back to Mexico,“ Abbott said. -Bernama
