The Senate advanced two immigration-related bills Thursday night, one of which would allow state police to arrest migrants crossing the southern border.
Senate Bill 11, sponsored by Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, would create a new state crime for illegally entering Texas from Mexico and authorise state police to arrest violators. A first-time offender could be charged with a misdemeanor, but the penalty would increase to a felony if the person has a criminal record and has repeatedly entered the country illegally.
The Senate gave initial approval to SB 11 by a vote of 19-12. The bill still needs a final vote in the Senate before being sent to the House.
Senate Bill 4, sponsored by Senator Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, would increase the mandatory minimum sentence for smuggling immigrants or operating a stash house from two to 10 years. SB 4 passed 29-2 with bipartisan support.
Earlier this month, Governor Greg Abbott called a third special legislative session since the regular session ended earlier this year, asking lawmakers to pass proposals on school vouchers and immigration enforcement. Abbott had asked lawmakers to pass immigration enforcement proposals during the regular session and the previous special session, but lawmakers couldn’t agree and adjourned without passing an immigration enforcement bill.
Abbott has been critical of the Biden administration for years, blaming the president for the record number of Border Patrol apprehensions on the southern border.
Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, raised concerns about the ability of counties to comply with SB 11. He argued that the number of people who would be apprehended would overwhelm local jails and require significant funding to defend migrants who are arrested.
If passed, Senator César Blanco estimated that SB 11 would cost El Paso taxpayers – his constituents – an additional $60,000 per day.
“My concern is that the state of Texas may be adding a layer to what we are dealing with in terms of both border security and a humanitarian crisis that has developed and continues to affect our communities,” the Democrat said on the Senate floor.
Birdwell, the bill’s sponsor, said funds appropriated during the regular session as part of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security initiative would cover many of the costs associated with the bill.
According to the latest published federal immigration data, federal agents had 2.2 million encounters with migrants in the 2023 fiscal year, with September’s figures yet to be released. When that final month is tallied, 2023 could break the record of 2.3 million migrant encounters set in fiscal year 2022.
During a committee meeting on Tuesday, Birdwell said SB 11 could face a legal challenge from the federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts have ruled that the federal government has sole authority to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. Over the years, states have tried to implement their own immigration laws, but those laws have been overturned or watered down after legal challenges.
Still, Birdwell said he was confident his bill could win a legal challenge if the federal government sued Texas.
“It is carefully tailored to avoid interfering with federal immigration enforcement authority while providing law enforcement with an important new tool to deter improper or unlawful entry into Texas,” he said during the committee meeting.
Birdwell’s proposal was met with opposition from immigrant rights advocates and Dallas County Assistant Administrator Charles Reed, who testified during the committee meeting that if it became law, county jails could be overwhelmed with migrants arrested by state law enforcement. He warned that the county might have to raise property taxes if it had to pay to incarcerate significant numbers of migrants.
“We’re absolutely terrified that this bill will put us over our [jail] capacity,” Reed said.
A fiscal analysis of the bill says there isn’t enough data to estimate its cost, but adding a new crime could “place additional demands on state correctional resources due to a potential increase in the number of individuals placed on community supervision or sentenced to a term of incarceration.
