The Texas Governor is hours away from signing a controversial immigration bill that could make illegal entry into Texas a state crime. An overarching clash between a broken federal immigration system and state-level action is indicated by the development.
In Brownsville, Texas, work on a state-sanctioned border wall is well underway, setting the stage for the legislation that could reshape the border landscape radically. Undeterred thousands of immigrants continue to pour into the United States, overwhelming the Border Patrol's capacity, prompting the closure of ports of entry and, more recently, railway transport.
The areas significantly impacted by these changes include Eagle Pass and El Paso in Texas, Lukeville in Arizona, and San Ysidro, California. The closures have posed economic challenges to these border communities which heavily depend on the revenues from the crossings. For instance, Eagle Pass city reportedly relies on these crossings for 50 percent of its budget, and the affected communities have been grappling with closures for more than three weeks already.
Amid these changes, a Democrat Governor in Arizona has voiced her disapproval of the measures arguing that they pose potential risks to trade, travel, and the overall safety of her state. She postulates that when Border Patrol is forced to divert their attention to handling migrants at the border, potential security surges occur, creating gaps that may compromise the efficacy of border patrol operations.
As the administration grapples with these security concerns, a historic bill (Senate Bill 4) in Texas is drawing attention and sparking criticism. Opponents of the bill suggest that it could foster racial profiling among Latinos and have deemed it unconstitutional as it stands in conflict with the Supreme Court ruling that immigration is a federal function. The proposed bill sanctions the arrest of immigrants crossing the border illegally and delegates deportation power to judges. This groundbreaking direction, contrary to the established notion of immigration as a federal function, indicates that Texas may be charting a new course in the nation's ongoing immigration debate.
