The Texas Legislature is set to push the limits of the State's authority to enforce immigration laws and increase border security.
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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.
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.