Texas’ governor is poised to sign one of the ‘most radical immigration laws ever’ as he looks to let local cops arrest migrants.
SB4 has already been approved by the state legislature and Greg Abbott has vowed to sign the bill allowing local and state police to make immigration arrests.
Once it’s signed in early March, the legislation will allow local cops to stop anyone suspected of entering the Lone Star State illegally and ask for proof of their right to be there.
Those caught in the US illegally would face up to six months in jail for the first offense and 2-20 years for subsequent entries.
‘Texas politicians just passed one of the country’s most radical anti-immigrant laws — EVER,’ the ACLU of Texas blasted the state’s Republican lawmakers online.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers pull over a car suspecting of carrying illegal immigrants in El Paso, Texas in October
A pursuit of a vehicle carrying illegal immigrants ends on a freeway in El Paso as law enforcement tackle a rise in human smuggling in the state
Illegal immigrants climb up a mountain that separates Mexico from Texas so they can sneak into El Paso
‘This legislation is white supremacy in action that will encourage racial profiling and separate Texas families. If Gov. Abbott signs #SB4 into law, we’ll sue.’
The liberal organization worries US citizens who are Hispanic will be profiled based on how they look or language they speak.
‘This is not targeting anyone; we’re trying to stop the flow of illegal immigration through our state and into our state from a foreign country, and we have every right to do that,’ Republican Representative David Spiller, who sponsored SB4, told NewsNation.
Spiller and other Texas Republicans argue they have to do something since more than 3.8 million migrants have crossed into Texas illegally since Pres. Joe Biden took office in 2021, according to federal statistics.
‘I think worth noting is the fact that this is a misdemeanor. We’re not trying to round up folks that have been here for years,’ Spiller said.
Republican state Rep. David Spiller, who represents several counties near the Oklahoma state line north of Dallas, proposed SB4
At least 3.8 million migrants have entered Texas since 2021, according the US Customs and Border Protection
Enforcement would most likely happen in the first 50 miles north of the border, Spiller added.
‘Anyone that’s been here longer than two years, three years, five years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, they can’t be charged with this offense,’ he explained.
‘I’m not saying that it couldn’t happen in Dallas, Fort Worth or Houston, but I am saying that the most likely scenario would be that it would be at or near the border.’
There are also legal concerns about how the bill allows charges against an illegal immigrant to be dropped if they agree to voluntarily return to Mexico.
Many of the migrants crossing into Texas now are not Mexican.
In October, Venezuelans beat out Mexicans as the top nationality encountered by the US Border Patrol for the first time ever.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States gather near a wire fence as members of the Texas National Guard stand guard with the purpose of stopping them
Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas
Mexico is also not obligated to take in migrants who are not Mexican citizens.
The Texas law ‘attempts to set up its own system of deportation…its own system of judges determining who’s allowed to stay and who has to go,’ Thomas A. Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal and Educational Fund (MALDEF), told Axios.
Crossing into the US illegally is already a federal crime.
The US Supreme Court has already ruled that enforcing immigration laws has been reserved for federal immigration officers, not for local police.
After Arizona passed a similar ‘show me your papers’ law in 2010, SB 1070, the state was sued.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that local police didn’t have the authority to arrest someone only on their immigration status since that’s the job of the federal government.
All Arizona cops could do if they encountered an illegal immigrant in Arizona was hold them and them turn them over to US Border Patrol.
Some believe Texas lawmakers are trying to challenge the Arizona v US ruling, especially since the high court is more conservative now than in 2012.