The Texas Tribune By Alejandro Serrano Oct. 24, 2024
Texas challenged federal supremacy by creating a state crime for illegal entry into the U.S. The courts will decide whether it’s constitutional — and whether other states can follow Texas’ lead.State leaders argue that the federal government has failed to enforce immigration laws and created a catastrophe along the 1,254 mile border. They say it violates part of the Constitution that says the federal government must protect states from invasion.
“Texas has the right to defend itself because of President Biden's ongoing failure to fulfill his duty to protect our state from the invasion at our southern border,” Gov. Greg Abbott said earlier this year.
Until recently, record-setting numbers of undocumented migrants were coming into Texas, and state leaders have claimed that some were criminals and terrorists. They point to the nation’s ongoing fentanyl crisis and anecdotes of migrants accused of crimes to defend the border operations and SB 4. Numerous studies have debunked claims that increased illegal immigration leads to more violent crime.
SB 4 would make it a state misdemeanor to illegally cross the border from Mexico into Texas, empower Texas peace officers to arrest undocumented immigrants and require that a state magistrate judge order the person to leave the U.S. to Mexico in lieu of prosecution. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders can be charged with a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
For now, the law is on hold as the DOJ lawsuit winds through federal courts, but if Texas succeeds in defending it, legal scholars say it would result in two immigration systems — one federal and one in Texas — and open the door for other states to write their own immigration laws.
Interviews with a dozen constitutional law scholars and pro- and anti-immigration advocates suggest that the implications could reshape the nation’s immigration system.
Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri, argues that immigration is not an invasion. “Texas and other states are claiming a really extreme version of the notion that states are essentially sovereign, and that the federal government can go whistle,” he said.
Militarization of a city
These days, few, if any, migrants can be seen on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande from Shelby Park.
Before the recent dip — following stepped up enforcement efforts in Mexico and new asylum restrictions in the U.S. — immigration was near all-time highs. Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, recorded more than 70,000 migrant encounters in December. In September, that number had dropped to 6,932 encounters.
To control the flow, Texas deployed the state National Guard along the river that marks the border and installed the floating barrier — without consulting the federal governments on either side of the international waters.
And in Shelby Park, which federal agents had used as a main staging area to process thousands of migrants who crossed the river, Texas has now blocked Border Patrol’s access to asylum-seeking immigrants.
More:
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/24/texas-immigration-law-sb4-supreme-court-migrants-border/