On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that makes it illegal to enter the state. This could lead to a disagreement with President Joe Biden’s government over immigration policy and border enforcement.
Abbott, a Republican, signed the bill at an event in Brownsville, Texas. He has previously put in place policies toward migrants that have been challenged in court.
He said, “Biden’s willful inaction has left Texas to fend for itself.” The bill’s goal was to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas.”
It is already against the law to enter the United States through a port of entry that has not been marked.
The Republican-controlled state legislature passed the bill last month, and Abbott signed it into law. At the same time, negotiators in Washington are trying to reach an immigration deal that Republicans want in exchange for more aid to Ukraine and Israel, which is a top priority for the White House.
In the past few years, migrants have been arrested in Texas on state misdemeanor charges of illegal trespassing as part of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border enforcement program.
It is now illegal to enter or try to enter Texas from another country at any place other than a legal port of entry, according to a law signed on Monday. It’s going to start working in March.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not answer right away to a question about whether the DOJ planned to sue Texas over the new law on Monday night.
It was signed by 21 Democrats from Texas and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Monday. They asked the Justice Department to stop the new law, which they called “the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill.”
The law is the latest effort by the governor of Texas to stop people from crossing the border. Abbott had already ordered a 1,000-foot floating barrier to be put up near Eagle Pass, Texas, and razor wire to be put up near the Rio Grande to stop people from coming into the state from Mexico after crossing the river.
In court, both of those attempts were turned down. This month, a federal appeals court said that the state had to take down the buoy barrier, and last month, Abbott asked the court to stop federal officials from taking down the razor wire, but the court said no.
A lot of migrants have been taken by bus from Texas to places like Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, and Los Angeles since last year.