The Texas Legislature is set to push the limits of the State’s authority to enforce immigration laws and increase border security. Two bills filed this session provide for the removal of migrants illegally entering the U.S. between ports of entry and call for stiff prison sentences for re-entering after removal.
A Texas Legislator filed a bill aimed at expanding the State’s authority to remove migrants who illegally cross the border between ports of entry and return them to Mexico. A bill filed in the Texas Senate provides stiff penalties for illegally re-entering Texas after being removed.
Texas State Representative Matt Schaffer (R-Tyler) filed House Bill 20 on March 10. The bill calls for the creation of a new law enforcement department called the “Border Protection Unit” (BPU).
The bill grants the BPU officers (commissioned law enforcement officers) the authority to “deter and repel” migrants attempting to illegally enter the State of Texas outside of a port of entry. It also allows BPU officers to “return aliens to Mexico who have been observed actually crossing the Mexican Border illegally, and were apprehended or detained in the immediate vicinity of the border.”
These powers are granted “to the extent consistent with the United States and Texas constitutions and federal immigration laws,” the bill states.
Schaffer’s bill is one of seven border security bills identified by House Speaker Dade Phelan as legislative priorities for the House on Friday. In a statement released by the speaker, Phelan’s staff wrote:
The Border Protection Unit would be headquartered along the border and prioritize the recruitment of individuals who are either residents of or have significant experience with border communities to staff the operation. In doing so, Texas National Guard soldiers, state troopers and game wardens that have been deployed along the border for weeks or months at a time would eventually be sent back home, returning them to their own core missions and communities.
The bill also allows for the use of “non-lethal force” to deter migrants from illegally crossing the border.
In the Texas Senate, Senator Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) filed Senate Bill 2424 on Friday. The bill relates to the “creation of the criminal offense of improper entry from [a] foreign nation.”
The bill would make entering Texas by a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States outside of a location designated by United States immigration officials as a port of entry a state criminal offense. The initial offense would be a Class A misdemeanor. Penalties in Texas provide for up to one year in county jail and a fine of put to $4,000.
The bill provides for penalty enhancements up to and including a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for persons who illegally re-enter the state after being removed with various criminal convictions. The offense is a felony of the first degree if the migrant re-enters after having received a conviction for a first-degree felony or higher.
“Sen. Brian Birdwell has filed SB 2424 so the State of Texas is empowered to truly protect our border, as the Federal Government has completely abdicated its constitutional responsibility,” Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said in a written statement on Friday.
“Sen. Birdwell’s bill creates a new state crime for entering Texas illegally. SB 2424 authorizes Texas law enforcement to arrest and prosecute all people who cross the border illegally anywhere in Texas,” Patrick continued. “Punishment starts with up to 1 year in jail for a first-time offender, two years in state jail for a second-time offender, and up to life in prison for convicted felons who illegally cross the border.”
The bills filed are expected to receive priority consideration after Governor Greg Abbott declared border security to be an emergency item during his State-of-the-State address in February.
“Texans are furious about the lawlessness caused by Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott said during the address, “and they should be.”
“Doing more to secure our border is an emergency item this session,” the Texas governor declared. “I look forward to working with Senator Birdwell and Representative Guillen to get this done.”
During the first five months of Fiscal Year 2023, which began on October 1, 2022, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 560,000 migrants in the five Texas-based border sectors, according to an unofficial Border Patrol report obtained by Breitbart Texas. In addition, more than 199,000 more are classified by Border Patrol as “known got-aways,” another Border Patrol report reveals.
This brings the total of known border crossers in the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio, Big Bend, and El Paso Sectors to more than three-quarters of a million migrants, the reports show.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.