(ProsperNews.net) – Texas authorities have arrested thousands of border crossers in the past few weeks as the state ramps up its attempts to contain the migrant crisis. The Lone Star State made the arrests based on trespass laws, under which state authorities made agreements with landowners that permitted them to arrest migrants who entered their properties without permission. More than 10,000 have been detained so far.
In March, Texan law enforcement will expand its reach and give judges new powers to expel migrants back to the country from which they entered the United States. Governor Greg Abbott said, “When people start learning about this, they’re going to stop coming across the Texas border.”
Civil rights groups and migration advocates have already filed lawsuits against Texas, saying March’s law is an unconstitutional overreach because migration and border control are the preserve of the federal government, and states do not have the power to expel immigrants.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a joint suit in December against the Texas Department of Public Safety and El Paso County District Attorney Bill Hicks, who said the case could reach the US Supreme Court, and many Texan lawmakers would welcome that.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the legislation, calling it extreme and dehumanizing. “This is not who we are as a country,” she said.
Opponents have compared Texan attempts at border control to similar moves by Arizona back in 2010 when the US Supreme Court determined that the federal government was the sole power-holder concerning matters of migration. The new lawsuit against Texas cites that ruling. Ironically, in 2018, the Trump administration used the same Supreme Court ruling to argue that Californian laws aimed at helping illegal immigrants were unconstitutional.
The new row has broken out against a backdrop of record migration figures. In the fiscal year 2023, there were 2.8 million migrant encounters at the southern border.
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