Venezuelan migrants cross the fence erected by the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.Nayeli Cruz
Texas’ local Congress passed some of the toughest anti-immigrant laws in the United States this week. The Republican majority in the House has approved a series of rules that criminalize people crossing the border from Mexico. These make it a crime to enter Texas illegally and allow state authorities to deport them, something some experts and human rights organizations have questioned. These laws are waiting to be signed by the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, a politician who has tried radical methods to combat the arrival of immigrants, including sending buses carrying immigrants to Democratic cities or installing buoys and barbed wire in the River Bravo. The politician has already indicated that he will sign the initiatives in order to implement them into law.
The local House of Representatives’ Initiative 4 caused tension in the legislature for days. The House of Commons approved it at four in the morning on a Thursday at the end of October. The Republican majority defeated attempts by Democratic politicians to derail the proposal from Congressman David Spiller, who represents a northern county. His proposal would allow anyone to be arrested at any time and in any place on suspicion of illegally entering Texas, a state with about 10 million residents of Mexican origin.
The local Senate also recently approved an initiative that will allow Abbott to use an extraordinary $1.5 billion to increase surveillance of the border with Mexico, an area that has seen record numbers of illegal border crossings. The politician said he would use some of the money to build more miles of an immigration wall and other barriers that could cut off the flow of arriving people. Abbott is expected to visit the border this weekend alongside Donald Trump, who is campaigning for 2024 on a promise to restore a strong hand to the region.
The tension caused by the Initiative 4 negotiations was reflected in a viral video recorded in the Legislature. After the vote, Democratic Congressman Armando Walle of Houston, visibly upset, addressed the Republican lawmakers who voted for the measure. “You can’t go to a wedding anymore, you can’t go to a baptism anymore… You don’t understand what you’re doing at all. This hurts our communities, it hurts us personally,” said an angry Walle, who was a taqueria employee in his youth. The Republicans simply nodded without answering.
The rule, approved by the local Senate in an emergency session back in November, allows authorities to choose to deport to Mexico people suspected of entering Texas illegally. If he does not leave the United States, he faces charges of a new crime that could result in a prison sentence of between two and 20 years.
The Mexican government expressed its opposition to the measure this week. Mexico’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on Wednesday, the same day the Mexican president began a visit to the United States to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). Criminalizing immigrants, the State Department said, “will lead to family separation, discrimination and racial profiling.” Mexico also opposes a measure that would allow state authorities to detain nationals or foreigners and send them back to Mexican territory, the statement said .
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The López Obrador government has been tussling with its American counterpart over immigration issues for months. That was the central point of the bilateral meeting between Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart on Friday within the framework of APEC. The two countries have already reached some agreements at the federal level, so that Mexico accepts citizens of some countries who are deported to its territory. However, Mexico does not have an agreement to accept deportations through judicial authorities.
Human rights organizations have made it clear that they will sue the Texas government as soon as Abbott signs this initiative and makes it law. “Senate Bill 4 supersedes federal law, encourages racial profiling and harassment, and unconstitutionally authorizes local authorities to deport people without due process, regardless of whether immigrants are seeking asylum or other humanitarian protection,” said Oni Blair, the ACLU’s director of Texas. This group of activists reiterates that supremacist groups from the Republican bastion have shown their support for these regulations.
Congressman Walle pointed out this week that the law passed by the Texas Congress is worse than the famous SB1070 passed in Arizona in 2010. This allowed the police to request papers from anyone they wanted and to be able to verify their legal status at any time in the territory. . This rule has been challenged in court. Its impact faded after several rulings by federal judges. In a landmark 2012 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local police do not have the authority to arrest a suspect based solely on their immigration status. As the court stated, this responsibility lies with the federal government. However, the ideological balance of the Togados has changed since then.
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