Texas governor signs bill making illegal border crossing into US state crime

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed a highly controversial bill that makes illegal immigration into the second largest US state a state crime.

Under the law, which is expected to take effect in March, state law enforcement officers will be authorized to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.

Afterwards, the detained migrants could either agree to a Texas judge's order to leave the country or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges carrying a punishment of up to six months in prison. Repeat offenders could face more serious felony charges with a punishment of two to 20 years in jail.

The legislation is aimed to "stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas," the governor said at the signing ceremony in Brownsville, a major border city in south-eastern Texas.

"The consequences of it are so extreme that the people being smuggled by the cartels, they will not want to be coming into the state of Texas," Abbott said.

"(President Joe) Biden's deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself," claimed the governor, who has repeatedly slammed the White House for failing to address the continuous border crisis.

However, the law is expected to face hard-fought legal challenges as immigration enforcement is seen as a federal responsibility. Democratic state lawmakers have argued it oversteps the federal government's powers.

The Texas legislation echoes an aborted Arizona law known as the "show me your papers" bill, which was mostly rejected in 2012 by the US Supreme Court with a ruling asserting that the federal government sets immigration policy and laws.

On Monday, about 20 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging the US Department of Justice to sue Texas to stop the law from taking effect.

"We urge you to assert your authority over federal immigration and foreign policy and pursue legal action, as appropriate, to stop this unconstitutional and dangerous legislation from going into effect," the letter read.

Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, chief of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement on Monday that the Texas measures "not only threaten the safety and dignity of asylum seekers, but also risk undermining the foundational principles of our legal system."

"Immigration is clearly a federal authority, and this legislation knowingly dances on the edge of constitutional cliffs at the expense of vulnerable children and families," she said.

Up to 30 former US immigration judges, who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, signed a letter earlier this month condemning the measure as unconstitutional.

Neighboring Mexico has also been upset. Under the Texas law, migrants ordered to leave would be sent to ports of entry along the border with Mexico, even if they are not Mexican citizens.

"The Mexican government categorically rejects any measure that would allow local or state authorities to detain or deport Mexicans or other nationalities to Mexican soil," said the Mexican government in a statement.

In the fiscal year that ended in September, there were more than 2.4 million apprehensions across the US-Mexico border, breaking the record of 2.3 million from the year before.