Texas Senate passes measure making illegal border crossings a state crime

The Texas Senate fast-tracked two measures Thursday to broaden the state’s jurisdiction over immigration enforcement.

The bills — one which would make crossing the border from Mexico into Texas a crime and the other would appropriate more than $1.5 billion for border enforcement — crossed the chamber’s finish line just two days after the beginning of a special legislative session.

The quick legislative action came as the Senate suspended its standard rules of procedure, according to a report by Texas Public Radio.

The state criminalization of unauthorized border crossings is controversial because the federal government is generally understood to have sole constitutional authority over immigration enforcement.

A group of former immigration judges on Friday panned the proposed legislation, saying it conflicts with constitutional law and U.S. treaty obligations.

“The proposed Texas legislation, which would allow a state court magistrate judge to issue a removal order, is not lawful. Immigration is plainly a federal function. State legislators cannot enact immigration laws for the same reasons that the United States Congress cannot enact Texas state legislation. State magistrate judges cannot conduct immigration proceedings for the same reason that federal Immigration Judges cannot adjudicate Texas state criminal cases. As the bill’s sponsors must know this, the point of the exercise is unclear,” wrote the former judges.

Opponents of stringent criminalization of border crossings also say policing those crimes can lead to abuses.

The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy in 2018 led to the separation of more than 2,000 children from their parents, and the process to reunite families is ongoing.

Opponents of the Texas bills say the potential for abuse can also affect U.S. citizens.

“My fear is these new state offenses are going to have a chilling effect on our state, a state that is minority-majority, 41 percent Latino,” state Sen. César Blanco (D) said on the Senate floor in opposition to the bill.

“How many kids and adults are we going to risk wrongfully being deported or wrongfully being detained? That’s what our families, that’s what our communities along the border and across Texas, that’s what they’re worried about,” said Blanco, who opened his speech with criticism of the federal government for “not doing its job” on the border.

The bills now head to the state House along with a school choice proposal that’s a cornerstone of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) agenda.

Abbott has threatened to take the issue to GOP primaries if the House does not send the bill to his desk.

While Texas Republicans support the immigration and school choice bills in principle, they’ve been held up in previous legislative sessions with infighting over the specific wording.

The Texas Legislature, which usually only meets for 140 days in odd-numbered years, is entering its fourth special session of the year, the first time a governor has called four special sessions in the same year, according to a report by The Texas Tribune.

—Updated at 4:47 p.m.