(ProsperNews.net) – The Texas state legislature is poised to allow cops and other law enforcement agents to deport illegal migrants from America. Lone Star State lawmakers passed House Bill 4, introduced by Republican Rep. David Spiller, by 83 to 63 on October 26. The bill follows similar legislation passed in the Senate and signed by Governor Greg Abbott, and together, the laws will permit law enforcement to remove illegal aliens.
The new laws create a class B misdemeanor for illegal entry to Texas. If unlawful-entry foreign nationals refuse to leave the country voluntarily, officers can charge them with a second-degree felony carrying a 20-year jail term. If police encounter illegal immigrants with at least two criminal charges on their record, they can be charged with a third-degree felony.
Mr. Spiller described his proposals as a “Texas solution to a Texas problem.” He called the plans a humane, logical, and efficient approach to a problem created by President Joe Biden.
Democrats have responded with fury to the plan and say it is an overreach in power that will stir up more resentment between Americans and migrants. Some critics say officers have effectively become judge and jury.
Rep. Armando Walle said the measures hurt him “personally,” while Ana Gonzales of the Texas AFL-CIO labor organization said laborers would be forced into hiding, causing a negative knock-on effect in the construction industry.
The bill was one of three passed simultaneously aimed at tackling illegal migration in the border state. One of the bills sets aside $1 billion to build a wall along the Mexico-Texas border, while the third increases sentences for human smuggling, which is to become a third-degree felony carrying ten years in jail.
Analysts suggest that the ability to deport migrants locally will be challenged in the courts as that power has only ever rested with the federal government. The number of people who crossed into the US illegally in 2023 has already broken all previous records.
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