Entering Texas Illegally along the border with Mexico will be a state crime pursued by the authorities from now on. The new law SB4signed by the Republican governor last Monday, will come into force in March and legitimizes the persecution of the immigrant population in a State with more than 40% Hispanics.
Anyone who does not have their papers in order may be detained by local agents, placed in deportation proceedings, or face years in prison in case of recidivismin one of the most severe anti-immigrant laws nationwide.
The measure aims to stop the massive flow of illegal crossings into the second largest state in the country and one of the four that border Mexico. In recent months, Abbott has sent more than 20 buses with undocumented immigrants toward The Angels and many others to NYaccusing Democratic Party politicians of causing an unprecedented immigration crisis in the United States.
In addition to instilling fear in the hundreds of thousands of ‘undocumented’ people who have been residing, working and paying taxes in Texas for years, Abbott’s law is a challenge to the government of Joe Biden. It allows local police and judges to detain and deport immigrants, something that in the rest of the country is only the responsibility of federal authorities. In Washington they have called the decree unconstitutional.
Despite the various rulings of federal courts on the matter, there are several Republican legislators in Texas who trust that SB4 can reach the Supreme Court and be ratified by the current conservative majority.