Texas plans to let LOCAL cops arrest migrants flooding over Mexico border with controversial new immigration bill – after it sparked outrage in Arizona where Hispanic Americans were racially profiled
The governor of Texas is about to sign what opponents like the ACLU are calling one of the “most radical immigration bills EVER.”
SB4 has already been approved by the state Legislature, and Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to sign the bill — which would allow local and state police to make immigration arrests — into law.
Once signed into law in early March, the controversial legislation will allow local police to stop anyone suspected of entering the Lone Star State illegally and demand proof that they have a right to be here.
Those caught in the U.S. illegally face a prison sentence of six months for the first offense and two to 20 years for subsequent entries.
“Texas politicians just passed one of the most radical anti-immigrant bills in the country – EVER,” the spokesperson said ACLU of Texas has cursed the state's Republican lawmakers online.
Texas Department of Public Safety officials stop a car suspected of transporting illegal immigrants in El Paso, Texas, in October
A chase of a vehicle carrying illegal immigrants ends on an El Paso highway as law enforcement agencies tackle the increase in human trafficking in the state
Illegal immigrants climb a mountain separating Mexico from Texas so they can sneak into El Paso
“This legislation is a form of white supremacy in action that will encourage racial profiling and separated families in Texas. If Governor Abbott signs #SB4 into law, we will file a lawsuit.”
The liberal organization is concerned that U.S. citizens who are Latin American will be profiled based on the way they look or the language they speak.
“This is not directed at anyone; we are trying to stop the flow of illegal immigration through our state and into our state from abroad, and we have every right to do that,” Republican Rep. David Spiller, who sponsored SB4, told NewsNation.
Spiller and other Texas Republicans argue they must do something as more than 3.8 million migrants have entered Texas illegally since the presidential election. Joe Biden took office in 2021, according to federal statistics.
“I think it's worth noting that this is a crime. We're not trying to round up people who 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 to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Enforcement would most likely occur in the first 50 miles north of the border, Spiller added.
“Anyone who has been here for more than two years, three years, five years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years cannot be charged with this crime,” he explained.
“I'm not saying it couldn't happen in Dallas, Fort Worth or Houston, but I am saying the most likely scenario would be that it would be on or near the border.”
There are also legal concerns about how the bill allows charges against illegal immigrants to be dropped if they agree to return to Mexico voluntarily.
Many of the migrants now entering Texas are not Mexican.
In October, Venezuelans defeated Mexicans as the top nationality encountered by U.S. Border Patrol for the first time.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States gather at a fence as members of the Texas National Guard stand guard aiming to stop them
Migrants who have crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico line up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, September 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas
Mexico is also not required to accept migrants who are not Mexican citizens.
The Texas law “seeks to create its own system of deportation… its own system of judges deciding who gets to stay and who goes,” Thomas A. Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal and Educational Fund (MALDEF), told Axios.
Entering the US illegally is already a federal crime.
The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that enforcement of immigration laws is up to federal immigration officials, not local police.
After Arizona passed a similar “show me your papers” law, SB 1070, in 2010, the state was sued.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in 2012 that local police did not have the authority to arrest someone based solely on their immigration status, as that is the job of the federal government.
The only thing Arizona police could do if they encountered an illegal immigrant in Arizona was detain them and turn them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Some believe Texas lawmakers are trying to challenge the law Arizona v USA ruling, especially since the Supreme Court is now more conservative than it was in 2012.