Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blasted Texas for a law that would give police officers the power to arrest people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, vowing that Mexico will not accept anyone deported from the state.
“I will let it be known right away: if, for example, they tried to deport, which is not their responsibility, we would not accept deportations from the government of Texas,” López Obrador said Wednesday during his daily news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City.
The law, known as Senate Bill 4, was blocked again late Tuesday by a federal appeals court, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it to take effect.
Police would be allowed to arrest people if they cross the border illegally in provinces bordering Mexico.
The controversial law could also be enforced elsewhere in Texas if someone is arrested on suspicion of another offense and a fingerprint taken during jail booking is linked to a suspected re-entry violation. It probably wouldn’t come into play during a routine traffic stop.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Wednesday that Mexico will not accept deportations from Texas, which is trying to enforce a law that allows police officers to arrest people apprehended for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border .
A group of migrants approach the Texas National Guard at a makeshift camp on the U.S.-Mexico border on the Rio Grande on Wednesday
A U.S. Border Patrol agent searches a group of migrants allowed through by the Texas National Guard in El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday
‘We are against this draconian law, completely contrary to, contrary to human rights, a completely dehumanized law, anti-Christian, unjust, contrary to regulations, norms for human coexistence, not only international law, but even contrary to the Bible López Obrador said. .
“The federal government in the United States is against this decision and we don’t want to anticipate what we might do if Texas, the governor and all these anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican people want to do that,” López Obrador added.
Earlier Tuesday, a divided Supreme Court had allowed Texas to enforce a law giving police broad powers to arrest undocumented migrants suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border.
The conservative majority’s decision had rejected an emergency request from President Joe Biden’s administration, which claimed the law conflicted with federal authority and would cause chaos in immigration law.
The left-wing Mexican president slammed Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, saying only the federal government can rule on the status of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
On Tuesday, Iowa passed a bill that would charge a person who enters the state after previously being denied entry into the U.S. with a serious crime, or with a misdemeanor, under certain circumstances, including if arrested while committing another crime .
At least 100 migrants camped on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande awaiting permission to cross Wednesday
Lawmakers in New Hampshire are also working to draft a bill that would give police the power to bring charges against people suspected of illegally entering the U.S. from Canada.
Georgia Republicans have drafted a bill that would require some cities and counties to pass billsagreements to conduct some immigration-related enforcement in prisons to assist the federal government.
The measure comes almost a month after police accused a Venezuelan man of it beat nursing student Laken Riley dead on the University of Georgia campus.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recorded 961,537 encounters with migrants crossing the border illegally in the first four months of fiscal year 2024.
CBP agents reported 176,205 encounters in January, a significant decrease from December, when 301,983 interdiction orders were issued against migrants.