Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law Monday giving the state’s law enforcement officers the power to arrest anyone suspected of entering the country illegally.
The move comes as photos showed thousands of migrants in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody at Eagle Pass in the state, after entering the country illegally on Sunday night and Monday morning.
Texas also stopped two train crossings from Mexico in El Paso and Eagle Pass starting at 8 a.m. Monday, on routes where thousands of migrants have been hitchhiking through northern Mexico to the border.
Under Abbott’s new law, known as SB4, entering the country illegally into Texas will become a state crime. People arrested under the law will be able to choose whether to follow a judge’s orders to leave the country or be prosecuted and face jail time or a fine of up to $2,000. Repeat offenders will be charged with a felony.
At the signing in Brownsville, Governor Abbott said: “[Law enforcement officers] They are seeing with their own eyes people who are violating the law and now they are going to have the ability to arrest them, prosecute them, subject them to prison, subject them to being returned and subject them to even greater penalties. if they dare to come to Texas a second time.”
One of the crowds of migrants waiting to be processed outside the Eagle Pass crossing in Texas on Monday Getty Images A group of more than 1,000 migrants being detained by border agents for processing outside Eagle Pass, Texas Getty Images
The SB4 measures will take effect in March, but are expected to face legal challenges before then since immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.
On Monday morning, photos taken by NewsNation showed a crowd of more than 2,000 immigrants gathered in orderly columns at Eagle Pass waiting to be processed across the border.
They were just a handful of the tens of thousands who arrived at the border this month, which has already seen about 30,000 more migrant encounters than the same period last month.
As of Dec. 17, CBP had recorded 167,000 encounters with migrants, compared to 130,000 in the first 17 days of November, according to figures obtained by NewsNation.
It was not immediately clear whether the lines of thousands of people at Eagle Pass were related to the rail closures that were temporarily suspended starting at 8 a.m. Monday.
Governor Greg Abbott signed the state’s new border security law in Brownsville, Texas, on December 18. Facebook/Texas Governor Immigrants lined up outside the Eagle Pass crossing in Texas on Sunday. On Monday access to the train was cut off. fake images
Rail lines have become a popular method for migrants hoping to cover vast stretches of terrain with much greater speed and ease than on foot. Many have also boarded moving trains near the border to try to smuggle themselves into the states.
Just a few days ago, startling images emerged showing hundreds of migrants lining the train tracks outside Eagle Pass waiting for the chance to board.
The problem has been so prevalent that Mexico’s main railway line, Ferromax, suspended operations on some lines in September.
“After observing a recent resurgence of smuggling organizations transporting migrants through Mexico on freight trains, CBP is taking additional steps to increase staffing and address this development-related issue, including in partnership with Mexican authorities,” CBP said in a statement.
Migrants outside Eagle Pass. Encounters at the southern border this month will exceed those of last month. Getty Images An aerial view of migrants walking towards Eagle Pass, Texas, on the morning of December 18. Getty Images
The closures were also carried out to consolidate personnel resources and spread support along the southern border, where migrants are attempting to cross the border, CBP added.
In early December, CBP closed four major road ports of entry across the southern border from California, through Arizona and again into Texas at Eagle Pass, citing similar reasons.
Despite the closures, dozens of immigrants continue to arrive daily.
Exactly how the closures affect the border region remains to be seen. Residents living in the Mexican coastal town of Rocky Point told The Post last week that they had seen their economy dry up less than two weeks after the border closure in Lukeville, Arizona, took effect on December 4.
Migrants hold hands as they cross the Rio Grande to reach US soil on December 18. Getty Images
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has faced criticism from Americans living in Rocky Point, who have complained that the closure of Lukeville has left them trapped in Mexico in the middle of the holiday season.
“We would love to have just one agent on the Lukeville border,” Rocky Point real estate broker Robin Miller told The Post. She and others said Hobbs and U.S. authorities have received little meaningful help to Americans living in Rocky Point.
Hobbs, who previously said he asked President Biden to use the National Guard to open the Lukeville crossing, ordered National Guard personnel to help CBP agents manage the border in his state.
But without approval from Washington, Hobbs previously said he cannot use the National Guard to open the Lukeville port of entry, according to The Arizona Republic.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn