Texas Governor Greg Abbott has given law enforcement sweeping new powers to arrest and deport migrants who illegally enter the state.
Critics say the new law, which punishes repeat offenders with up to 20 years in prison, is the most draconian anti-immigrant measure passed in more than a decade.
Under SB4, police can arrest anyone they suspect of entering from Mexico illegally. Once in custody, migrants can either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the US or face prosecution on misdemeanour charges.
Migrants who refuse to leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges, while illegal reentry would bring a prison term of 2, 10 or 20 years.
“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Mr Abbott told reporters on Monday.
He said the bill’s goal was to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” and predicted it would reduce the number of crossings by up to 75 per cent.
The new law is the latest step in a series of wide-ranging crackdowns on migrants at the border and sets up a potential legal showdown with the Biden administration.
Gov. Greg Abbott signs three bills into law at a border wall construction site in Brownsville, Texas on 18 December that aims to deter illegal immigration— (AP)
Opponents denounced the bill as the most extreme since the 2010 Arizona “Show Me Your Papers” law, which was largely struck down by the Supreme Court.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has said it will challenge the law, and more than 20 House Democrats signed a letter urging the Department of Justice to sue the state.
“48 hours after Trump accused immigrants of ‘poisoning the blood of our country, Gov Abbott is signing a dangerous new law targeting immigrants and everyone who looks like them,” Congressman Joaquin Castro wrote on X.
US Border Patrol officers with a group of migrants near the southern border— (Associated Press)
Mexico president Andres Manuel López Obrador said on Tuesday that efforts were underway to challenge the new law, according to Reuters.
Mr Abbott’s administration has bussed at least 65,000 migrants to northern US cities since 2022, and sent thousands of National Guard troops to the border.
Texas has put up razor wire along the Rio Grande and erected a floating buoy, both of which are being challenged in court by the Biden administration.
A White House spokesperson told NBC News that the bill was “an extreme law that will make communities in Texas less safe”.
It was up to the federal government, rather than states, to determine how and when to “remove noncitizens for violating immigration laws”, the spokesperson added.
The US Border Patrol recorded 2.4 million migrants seeking to cross into the US in the past year.
