Tough fist in Texas against the migrant emergency at the border with Mexico. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a bill that would allow state police to arrest and deport people who enter the United States illegally from Mexico.
The unprecedented move sets the stage for a legal conflict with the federal government, which generally sets and enforces immigration laws.
At a live-streamed signing ceremony for the measure in Brownsville on the U.S.-Mexico border, Abbott accused President Joe Biden of “doing nothing to stop illegal immigration.” “Biden’s deliberate inaction has decimated America,” the governor said. According to him, around eight million people have crossed the border illegally since the US President took office in January 2021. Abbott defended the new law as constitutional and necessary to “stop the wave of illegal entries into Texas,” saying his state had been left to its own devices. The law, called Sb4, has sent waves of fear throughout the Hispanic community in Texas, where they make up 40% of the population. Civil rights organizations and immigration advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), warn that the powers granted to law enforcement will lead to racial profiling of Latinos not just at the border but across the state. “It is one of the most radical anti-immigration laws ever passed by any state,” the ACLU commented, threatening to sue Abbott.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA