Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is clashing with the Biden administration on border policies on a number of fronts, helping to catapult the topic of illegal immigration and record crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border to the top of voters' minds ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Several of Abbott's initiatives have triggered court battles, since border policy historically and according to the U.S. Constitution has been overwhelmingly the purview of the federal government.
Here is a look at the key Texas initiatives and where the legal challenges stand:
Operation Lone Star is Abbott's multibillion-dollar border security initiative. It has been hailed by conservatives, who praise the Texas governor for taking an aggressive approach to security, and criticized by human rights advocates.
The initiative was launched in March 2021, when Abbott declared an emergency disaster over illegal migration and cartel drug trafficking. That gave him the authority to deploy thousands of National Guard soldiers and state troopers to the border.
But the program has expanded far beyond establishing a Texas law enforcement presence on the Rio Grande. State and local law enforcement officers have been empowered to jail migrants on trespassing charges. Funds have been used to build a section of border wall. The Texas legislature has supported the operation by increasing penalties for smuggling and authorizing local police to take on immigration enforcement.
Civil rights groups asked the Justice Department to investigate OLS after thousands of migrants were locked up in special prison units and some were detained for months without being charged with a crime. Abbott frequently claims the operation is successful, pointing to migrant arrests and seized illicit narcotics.
Texas last year passed Senate Bill 4, which takes the extraordinary step of making it a state crime for migrants to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas without legal documentation and authorizing Texas to deport undocumented individuals. Republicans say the law is needed because the Biden administration has been unable to stop a historic influx of migrants into this country.
But a trial judge put it on hold in late February, saying it probably violates the constitutional requirement that the federal government, not the states, regulate immigration and the border. The conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked the judge's decision and said the law could take effect while the litigation continues unless the Supreme Court intervened.
On March 19, a divided Supreme Court said the law could take effect for now, with two justices in the majority urging the 5th Circuit to quickly decide whether to allow the law to remain in effect while appeals continue. The 5th Circuit then scheduled a hearing on the matter, and -- hours after the law took effect -- blocked it again until they issue a decision.
The rural border city of Eagle Pass has become the epicenter of the state's aggressive border security stand in defiance of the federal government. Since 2021, it has seen a significant uptick in migration across its relatively shallow section of the Rio Grande.
In response, the governor has taken measures to discourage migrants. First, troops unspooled razor wire and deployed river buoys (more on that below). Then in January, the Texas National Guard took over a municipal park, blocking border agents from the riverfront. Authorities from other Republican states have sent troops to help patrol. Plans are also in the works to create an 80-acre operating base.
Some residents are frustrated by the state's takeover, but local elected officials have voted repeatedly to allow for Texas's gradual militarization of its border.
Abbott last year lined the banks of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass with razor wire to try to block illegal entries from Mexico. The federal government says the sharp barriers have maimed and bloodied migrants at several locations and pose a hazard to U.S. Border Patrol agents, while also preventing them from reaching migrants who have already entered U.S. territory. Under U.S. immigration law, anyone who reaches U.S. soil has the right to seek asylum here.
Texas sued the Biden administration to prevent border agents from removing or cutting the wire barriers, and a district judge sided with Texas, finding that the barriers limit illegal crossings, which impose costs on the state. But the lower court denied the state's request to block Border Patrol agents from accessing the international border or disturbing the barrier while the litigation continued.
Texas appealed that ruling to the 5th Circuit, which issued a temporary order prohibiting Border Patrol agents from cutting, damaging or moving the barriers. The Supreme Court, however, sided with the Biden administration, saying border agents may remove the barriers as needed until their legality is resolved in court.
The Texas governor's decision to bus thousands of migrants north to Democratically led cities like New York, Washington and Chicago is perhaps his most nationally visible border initiative.
Since April 2022, Texas has bused more than 100,000 migrants to at least six cities, according to the governor's office. Initially, organizations that help migrants welcomed the free rides. Most migrants released from Border Patrol custody do not plan to stay in Texas border communities.
But the large number is putting a strain even on cities like New York that have traditionally prided themselves as being receptors of immigrants from around the world. Many of the migrants are initially unable to work as their asylum applications are processed. Residents in several cities have protested letting migrants shelter in their communities. Elected leaders claim the costs of caring for immigrants is imperiling their budgets.
The busing has helped catapult the border crisis into a major election year issue and tested the generosity of "sanctuary cities."
This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2024/03/12/texas-border-battles-immigration-migrants-biden/
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