Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced his intent to sign into law a bill that would grant police officers in his state the power to arrest illegal immigrants.
Abbott told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that the Lone Star State had to increase enforcement efforts due to President Joe Biden and his administration “(continuing) to lay out the welcome mat” for illegals.
Abbott then touted Senate Bill 4, which was approved by Texas lawmakers last month.
“Texas is having to step up and do even more to make sure that we deny illegal entry into the state of Texas,” Abbott insisted.
“In two weeks, I will be signing a new law in the state of Texas that will make it illegal for people to enter the state of Texas from another country illegally and authorizing every peace officer in the state of Texas to arrest those people entering our country illegally,” he boasted.
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Abbott Will Authorize Police Officers to Arrest Illegal Immigrants
The bill Abbott intends to sign into law creates quite an imminent battle between states’ rights and the authority of the federal government.
It makes it a state crime to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry, the first offense being a Class B misdemeanor with a possibility of up to six months in prison.
A second conviction under the same law takes the charges up a notch, to a second-degree felony, which carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
The bill being signed by Abbott (R) would become one of the nation’s strictest immigration laws and would take effect in early March.
Legal experts contend the Texas bill is a clear conflict with the U.S. government’s authority to regulate immigration. This is a seemingly laughable suggestion when the government is failing to enforce immigration law.
There is almost no doubt the Biden administration would assert federal authority over the state of Texas and would battle this tooth and nail in the courts.
Critics have suggested that the broad reach authorizing officers hundreds of miles from the border to make arrests under the law could lead to racial profiling.
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Trump Said He’ll Unilaterally Deport Illegal Immigrants
The necessity for a rule allowing state law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants might not be necessary if the border weren’t so porous under this President.
Alternately, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump recently announced that he’d invoke the Alien Enemies Act if elected, a wartime law that would allow the President to authorize the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants over the age of 14.
“One of the most important issues in this campaign is ending the nation-wrecking catastrophe on our southern border. There’s never been anything like this,” Trump said.
As such, the leading GOP contender for the White House promised to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
Earlier this year, a massive influx of new illegal immigrants prompted Governor Abbott to declare that an “invasion” was taking place at the southern border.
In a demonstration of the impending battle between the feds and Texas, he also accused the Biden administration of cutting his state’s razor wire barrier at the location in Eagle Pass.
“Two years of inaction on your part now leave Texas with no choice but to escalate our efforts to secure our State,” Abbott wrote in a letter to President Biden.
“Your open-border policies, which have catalyzed an unprecedented crisis of illegal immigration, are the sole cause of Texas having to invoke our constitutional authority to defend ourselves,” he added.
X CEO Elon Musk supported the move by Abbott to declare an invasion, claiming that he has “no other choice.”
Now he’s had no choice but to guide Texas into further invoking their authority to defend themselves.
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