Greg Abbott signs bill that makes entering Texas illegally a state crime, lets police arrest migrants

Many immigration advocacy groups and civil rights organisations also criticised the Texas legislature

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas on Monday, December 18, signed into law a bill that says entering Texas illegally is a state crime. The measure is known as SB 4, and allows local law enforcement to arrest migrants. They can also issue orders to remove the migrants to Mexico. It is expected that the law will take effect in March.

Gov. Greg Abbott signs three bills into law at a border wall construction site in Brownsville, Texas on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, that will broaden his border security plans and add funding for more infrastructure to deter illegal immigration (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez)(AP)

The law has unnerved the Latino community in Texas. The community reportedly makes up 40% of the state’s population. Many immigration advocacy groups and civil rights organisations also criticised the Texas legislature. 

“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said, according to NBC news. He added that the bill’s goal was to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas.”

On Monday, a  group of 21 Texas Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus signed a letter demanding that the Justice Department step in and block the law. They described the law as “the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill.”

After Abbott signed the bill, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said that the state threatens the “safety and dignity of asylum seekers.” “By criminalizing the very act of seeking refuge, Texas is turning its back on the values of compassion and due process that make our nation the world’s beacon of humanitarian leadership,” Vignarajah said in a statement, according to CNN.

Abbott, in the past, had ordered the installation of a 1,000-foot floating barrier near Eagle Pass, Texas. He had also demanded that razor wire be placed near the Rio Grande so that migrants cannot enter the state from Mexico, after crossing the river. However, both the efforts were rejected in court. Since 2022, Abbott’s office has bused thousands of migrants out of Texas to various cities including Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles.