Immigration Law in Texas
Governor Greg Abbott visited the Rio Grande Valley on Monday to sign three new laws aimed at bolstering border security and granting Texas law enforcement the power to arrest undocumented immigrants throughout the state.
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Senate Bill 3 dedicates $1.54 billion in state funds to continue building barriers along the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border. It also authorizes up to $40 million for state troopers to patrol Colony Ridge, a housing development near Houston that far-right sources allege attracts undocumented immigrants.
This funding is in addition to at least $1.5 billion in contracts awarded since September 2021 to construct approximately 40 miles of border barriers. As of August, Texas had completed 16 miles of steel bollard barriers in Starr, Cameron, Val Verde, and Webb counties.
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Senate Bill 4 establishes a state crime for illegally crossing the border from Mexico, a move likely to lead to a legal clash with the federal government. Another Senate Bill 4, passed during the third special session earlier this year, increases the minimum sentence for smuggling immigrants or running a stash house from two years to 10 years.
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The laws providing funds for border barriers and making illegal border crossing a state crime will take effect in early March. The human smuggling law goes into effect in early February. Abbott, who was in Brownsville to sign the bills, argued that Texas must protect itself from drug cartels, blaming President Joe Biden's immigration policies for the current situation. "Biden's deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself," Abbott said.
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Advocacy groups, Democrats, and former immigration judges have condemned the new SB 4, arguing that it is unconstitutional because immigration enforcement is a federal jurisdiction. Federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have ruled that only the federal government can enforce immigration laws. However, some Texas Republicans hope the law will prompt the Supreme Court, now more conservative with three Trump appointees, to revisit the issue.
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The new law makes crossing the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with penalties ranging from two to 20 years in prison. The law allows judges to drop charges if migrants agree to return to Mexico.
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Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, criticized the measures, stating they endanger asylum seekers and undermine legal principles, emphasizing that immigration is a federal matter.
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U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, along with other Democrats, has urged the U.S. Department of Justice to sue Texas to prevent the law from taking effect, asserting federal authority over immigration.
Thirty former immigration judges declared the bill unconstitutional, stating that state courts cannot issue removal orders, as immigration is a federal function.
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Under the new law, migrants who refuse to return to Mexico immediately would serve their sentences and then be taken to a port of entry, facing potential felony charges for refusing at that point. The law's enforcement could be challenged if Mexico declines to accept certain deported migrants. Abbott responded to this concern by saying, "We're going to send them right back to Mexico."
The law prohibits police from arresting migrants in public or private schools, churches, healthcare facilities, and facilities providing forensic medical exams to sexual assault survivors, though it does not extend this protection to college or university campuses.
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Texas is not the first state to grant its police powers to pursue undocumented immigrants. In 2010, Arizona passed Senate Bill 1070, making it a state crime for legal immigrants not to carry immigration papers and requiring police to check the immigration status of anyone they encountered.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that local police could not arrest someone solely based on immigration status, affirming that this responsibility belongs to the federal government.