New US law allows police to arrest, judges to expel immigrants
6 Min Read
The new law signed by the Texas governor gives the police and judges sweeping powers in handling immigrants.
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Gov. Greg Abbott signing three bills into law at a border wall construction site in Brownsville, Texas, on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, which will broaden his border security plans and add funding for more infrastructure to deter illegal immigration (AP)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that essentially grants police sweeping power that would enable them to arrest immigrants who enter the US illegally through the US-Mexican border and gives Texan judges the ability to expel them back to Mexico.
The legislation that entails Texas was passed last month and is expected to take effect in March of 2024. Abbott's, a far-right Republican, signature is a slam to the US' authority over immigration laws and a challenge to Democrats who have strictly objected to the passing.
Today in Brownsville, I signed three new laws to better protect Texans AND Americans from Biden’s open border policies.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 19, 2023
Illegal entry into Texas is now a crime subject to removal or imprisonment.
Texas will also fund new wall construction & increase human smuggling penalties. pic.twitter.com/EVGcYf4HJs
Legal experts stated that since the bill breaches US law, Abbott could expect confrontations from federal authorities in court.
The Mexican government also denounced the legislature and affirmed that instating it would contribute to family separation and racial profiling.
This is not a first for Texas, as the state had previously imposed the arrests of migrants who did not necessarily enter US grounds illegally but had been seized under the premise of "trespassing" into grounds owned by private landowners, who had made agreements concerning the matter with local troopers. These incidents occurred in 2021, during the first six months of Joe Biden's incumbency in office.
Abbott's history of anti-migrant sentiments is extensive and clear. He was previously responsible for transferring migrants to Democratic-run cities and towns, without coordinating with authorities. He also installed barbed wire along the border of the Rio Grande River. But the bill he just passed takes things to a whole new level of endangerment of migrant lives.
Critics of the measure claim that it fundamentally puts migrants at risk of not only being separated from their families but also being perceived as "illegal" because of their ethnicity. The law could also instill fear among migrants in Texas and prohibit them from contacting local authorities in cases of crime. Once migrants are taken into custody, they could either be deported back to Mexico or be faced with charges of misdemeanor and illegal entry.
The legislature sent immigrant rights groups into rage projected at Joe Biden for not forcing more control on laws that protect immigrants from such measures. US officials have also expressed discontent with the passing of the bill, prompting 30 US immigration judges to sign a letter of refusal of the bill.
Priscilla Olivarez, an attorney and strategist for the San Antonio-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said, “This is sanctioned racial profiling and all Texans must stand up and demand this measure, that will no doubt cause massive family separations, be struck down.”
In a debate in the Texas House, David Spiller, a Republican state representative, said the law does not aim at executing mass arrests of migrants in the state but could be restricted to border counties. However, he then rejected suggested amendments to narrow the interval of the law, dismissing the protection of migrants on university grounds, proposed by Democrats, in the process.
In the context of deporting migrants across the border to Mexico, the Mexican government is legally obliged to take back Mexican natives but not migrants of other nationalities. The recently passed law, however, would force migrants to Mexican ports along the border whether they are Mexican or not.
“The Mexican government categorically rejects any measure that would allow local or state authorities to detain or deport Mexicans or other nationalities to Mexican soil,” Mexico’s foreign relations department wrote in response.
Biden administration; a bad cop too
In recent debates, Congress has been conflicted and at a deadlock as Republicans advocated for enhancing security at the border and Democrats prioritized aid to Ukraine. Joe Biden, amid all that, was a strict advocate for Kiev.
However, this did not automatically exempt Biden from the border security issue. The Biden administration has consistently enabled border security. In September, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agreed to deploy around 800 additional military personnel to its southern border as part of a broader campaign to push back on migrants entering the country, DHS stated.
"This surge support includes up to 800 new active-duty personnel to assist with logistics and other functions at the border to allow more Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and officers to return to their core mission and responsibilities," the Department of Homeland Security explained.
The troops will add on to 2,500 steady state National Guard personnel, 24,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and officers, more than 2,600 non-uniformed personnel, and 500 law enforcement and general support volunteers.
In June, in an 8-1 vote, the US Supreme Court upheld the government's right to target undocumented migrants for deportation, a win for Biden and a loss for the states of Texas and Louisiana, which attempted to challenge the policy.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, in defense of the Biden administration, argued that the federal government has to prioritize efforts due to the lack of resources to pursue the 11 million undocumented "noncitizens" in the nation.
Read more: US Supreme Court upholds Biden's bill to deport undocumented migrants
Just before that, in May, the US imposed harsh new immigration laws, leaving desperate migrants at its southern border with an unclear future, even as a top official voiced confidence in the system's stability.
Thousands of migrants remained in Mexico, seeking to reach the United States, as it remained unclear how strict new regulations for illegal border crossers would be implemented.
In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the US military barred 200 migrants from entering Gate 42, the entrance point to El Paso, Texas, where hundreds passed.
The death of an unaccompanied migrant kid in the custody of Health and Human Services, which cares for minors who enter the nation alone, was reported by US officials.
