This past week there was the first round of real debate heard in the Senate Committee for Border Security. In the hearing, which was held on the morning of Thursday, March 30th, only two new bills were laid out by the committee: Senate Bill (SB) 1484 by Creighton and SB 1518 by King.
SB 1484 would create an educational program on border operations for local law enforcement. There was some contention over the bill from El Paso city council members, Chris Canales and Alexsandra Annello, who gave public testimony. The city council members wanted to address how programs like Operation Lone Star divert funds and resources towards a misguided, militaristic solution to a humanitarian crisis at the border. Senator Blanco, who represents El Paso and their districts and is on the senate committee, actually pushed back on the council members, stating that there needs to be both law enforcement as well as humanitarian aid, highlighting the complicated situation of border communities. The bill was left pending in committee.
SB 1518 brought by Senator King would make a terrorist registry mirroring the sex-offender registry already in place and create state offenses for terrorism. Several security think tank and policy analysts spoke in favor of the bill, one of several pieces of legislation that seeks to label cartels as terrorists. However, Senator Hinojosa, who represents the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, took up issue with the broad overreach of the bill. Senator Hinojosa felt the bill labeled too many misdemeanors or other crimes as chargeable offenses that could lead to being placed on a terrorist registry. The senator made a point to show his support of such a registry, but said he couldn’t support it until it becomes more concise and targeted. The bill was left pending in committee.
However, the real energy and debate of the committee was not around new bills, rather it was focused on the committee’s vote on SB 2424 by Senator Birdwell, chairman of the committee. SB 2424 was laid out last hearing and seeks to make it a state offense for illegally entering Texas, another attempt by the Texas legislature to circumvent federal authority over immigration policy. Both Senator Hinojosa and Senator Blanco had serious issues with the bill, the first time this committee has been so starkly divided. Both senators felt that this bill potentially violates the constitution right to seek asylum, and conflates the fentanyl crisis and cartel activity with the humanitarian, migrant crisis. Senator Blanco brought up the potential for such a bill to violate migrants rights to seek asylum by placing them under arrest and charging them with state offenses. If migrants are arrested, then they could be charged with anything from a misdemeanor to a felony and would eventually be sent to border patrol after the conclusion of their trials. There is significant concern by activist groups that the added criminal processes are already violating migrants rights, something that Director Steve McCraw, who was present as a resource witness, denied.
Senator Hinojosa questioned the logistical feasibility of arresting all migrants who cross the border illegally. He critiqued the bill for targeting migrants who did not work with the cartel and warned that Texas has no way to imprison every migrant who crosses illegally, and that attempting to do so would lead to prison camps not unlike the Japanese internment camps from World War II. Senator Hinojosa did not mince words and warned, “I just don’t see how we are going to be able to [arrest over 1 million people a year] unless we are going to have prison camps. I mean that’s happened before in the history of this country.”
Despite the warnings and concerns of the two democrats, the other committee members were unmoved. The bill was sent favorably to the senate floor, with both democrats in opposition to it.
SB 2424 is representative of a slew of bills going through the Border Security Committee that continue to seek ways to subvert federal authority on immigration policy and to criminalize migrants. Texas is only doubling down on efforts like Operation Lone Star that attempts to galvanize public fears around migrants, while actually doing little to influence the border situation. It doesn’t look like Texas will be changing course anytime soon.