Following a series of letters proposing measures to resolve the border situation, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the Biden administration had not responded. For over two years, the governor of Texas has taken action in protest of what he perceives as a lack of enforcement of current laws concerning illegal immigration by the White House.
Senate Bill 4, often known as S.B. 4, is a new immigration and border security legislation for the Lone Star State. It involves sending busses and flights of migrants to communities headed by Democrats, providing extra financing for the building of the border wall, and signing the bill. Any Texas law enforcement officer would be able to arrest someone suspected of illegal immigration under the measure set to take effect on March 5. Migrants would face misdemeanor charges of unlawful entrance or be forced to comply with a judge’s order to depart the United States upon arrest.
To prevent Texas from implementing its new legislation, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the Lone Star State this week, requesting a federal court declare the statute unconstitutional.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is among the leaders of so-called sanctuary cities who have criticized Abbott for transporting migrants to their areas. Adams sued more than a dozen charter businesses in Texas that sent the migrants to New York City via bus.
Nearly 2,000 people cross the border into the Del Rio Sector every day, with the majority of those people being Hondurans, Colombians, and Venezuelans. The Texas measure further complicates the situation as the White House and Senate continue to negotiate a border security solution. Legislative Republicans are pressing for immigration reform as a condition for funding for Israel, Ukraine, and other pressing national security issues.
Floating barriers over the Rio Grande, deployment of National Guard soldiers, and concertina wire-stopping migrants are some of the tactics Texas has tried out as part of Operation Lone Star to discourage illegal immigration.
Although Texas requests a full court review, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has mandated removing the floating barrier. The Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has indicated that it may sue to block the bill.
