Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law Monday that allows police to detain immigrants who cross the U.S. border illegally and gives local judges the authority to order them to leave the country.
Critics have called the measure the most drastic attempt by a state to control immigration since Arizona’s 2010 law, which was largely overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is also expected that the Texas law will be quickly challenged in court.
Enforcement of immigration laws is federal jurisdiction. But Texas Republicans have tested those limits with increasing intensity during Joe Biden’s presidency, arguing that the federal government is not doing enough to stop people from entering the country illegally. Texas has sent more than 65,000 migrants to other cities in the country and has installed barbed wire on the banks of the Rio Grande, which has caused injuries to some asylum seekers.
The new law signed by Abbott allows any Texas police officer to arrest people suspected of having entered the country illegally. Once detained, they could accept a Texas judge’s order to leave the United States or be prosecuted for a misdemeanor charge of illegal entry. Immigrants who do not comply with the order could be arrested again for serious crimes.
Legal experts have described the measure as a violation of the federal government’s powers in immigration matters. The Mexican government also rejected the measure. In the United States, some immigrant rights groups have attacked Biden for not having stopped Texas’ aggressive border measures sooner.
Thirty former US immigration judges, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, signed a letter this month condemning the measure as unconstitutional.
“This measure, which will undoubtedly lead to mass family separations, must be repealed,” said Priscilla Olivarez, an attorney and strategist at the San Antonio-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
