Comment Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state National Guard soldiers and law enforcement officers Thursday to arrest and return immigrants suspected of crossing illegally back to the U.S.-Mexico border, testing how far his state can go in trying to enforce immigration law – a federal responsibility. The order comes days after a group of right-wing Texas officials — along with some former Trump administration leaders and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) — asked the Republican governor to invoke the state and the U.S. Constitution to declare an “invasion” on the southwest border and use his forces to repel it. Leaders in sparsely populated counties near the Mexican border complain they are overwhelmed by smuggling attempts and growing numbers of migrants evading detection. The order appears to be unconstitutional, legal experts said, and may have little practical impact on Abbott’s ongoing, costly and controversial border security initiative, Operation Lone Star. But it represents an escalation for the governor, who is running for re-election and eyeing national office, in a broader drama filled with anti-immigrant rhetoric and legally dubious actions designed to challenge the federal government’s exclusive powers over immigration enforcement — possibly up to a US Supreme Court with a conservative majority. “I think it’s pretty clear under current precedent that this is the kind of decision the federal government needs to make,” said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas Law School. “But I also believe that the most relevant Supreme Court precedent may well be the target of this policy.” In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled on a number of immigration-related laws, including SB 1070, or “show me your papers,” passed by the Arizona Legislature, confirming that states cannot impose their own immigration law’s. “I can’t envision a legal argument under which the governor of Texas could engage in unilateral immigration enforcement,” said Denise Gilman, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin. “We don’t want each state enforcing its own immigration laws.” Busloads of migrants, suspension of trade: Abbott bets future on divisive border plans But Texas has poured billions, including diverting federal funding for coronavirus relief, into the border crackdown, sending thousands of National Guard troops and directing Department of Public Safety officers to help patrol and arrest immigrants in south Texas. With each new step, Abbott tries to blur the lines between federal and state authority. The state has bused immigrants to Washington, halted commercial traffic on international bridges for what critics called unnecessary inspections, challenged the Biden administration in court and emptied state prisons to incarcerate immigrants. It is also raising money to build a border barrier. Civil rights groups have asked the Justice Department to investigate Operation Lone Star for possible civil rights violations. The Texas Tribune reported this week that federal officials had launched an investigation into Abbott’s program, but that Justice Department officials did not respond to questions about the scope of their investigation. But a federal watchdog is looking into Abbott’s shifting of about $1 billion in relief funding to pay for the initiative. “This is all a show,” said Claudia Muñoz, whose Texas-based group Grassroots Leadership runs a hotline for immigrants detained by state officials on trespassing charges. “But it’s also more than symbolic because he’s putting money behind it. Texas is trying different ways they can take control of the immigration system and the federal government is letting them get away with it.” The governor has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of encouraging the growing number of immigrants who are taking risks and putting their lives in the hands of smugglers to reach Texas and the wider United States. He went after the president after San Antonio police found dozens of dead and dying immigrants abandoned inside a tractor trailer last month. “While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the state of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” Abbott said in a statement. “As challenges at the border continue to grow, Texas will continue to take action to address these challenges posed by the Biden administration.” But the Biden administration has largely maintained — forced by court order — border policies implemented during his predecessor’s tenure, including the public health order that deports most border crossers and the Immigrant Protection Protocols, or program “Back to Mexico.” The Supreme Court last month authorized the Department of Homeland Security to end the policy. White House officials and Democrats have called Abbott a hypocrite for not making similar criticisms of Trump. The wording of Thursday’s executive order is unclear about what “returning immigrants to the border” means to the soldiers and the soldiers who apprehend them. Under the current operation, people caught on private land are arrested and taken to state prisons. Advocates say more than 3,000 immigrants have been detained without formal charges, access to lawyers or the right to a speedy trial. Many were later turned over to federal authorities for deportation or deportation. The state of Texas is non-deportable. Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze explained that “illegal immigrants will be returned/transported back to the border in [ports of entry].” “It’s discriminatory and it violates civil rights,” said Laura Peña, legal director for the Texas Civil Rights Program’s Beyond Borders program. “This is just another escalation of the racism and xenophobia that Abbott is fueling and it could have deadly consequences.” But at least one Texas jurisdiction has already begun to take matters into its own hands. Kinney County, a rural South Texas ranching community along the Rio Grande, was one of the first local governments to declare a state of emergency because of the “border crisis” and became the focus of a far-right campaign to push the state further into security. borderline offensive. The county’s campaign boost has attracted attention from all over the conservative media. This week, the county’s top elected official, Tully Shahan, rallied a group of Texas sheriffs, elected leaders, Roy and former Trump administration officials Mark Morgan and Ken Cuccinelli to say their communities are “waging war.” and that Biden is “destroying Western civilization.” The county is also tied up in federal disputes over policy priorities and directives to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that it says infringe on agents’ ability to enforce the law, represented by Kris Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state known for hardline views against illegal immigration. Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe last month initially told conservative media that he deported four immigrants after US Border Patrol agents failed to take them into custody. He later changed his account, explaining that the people had been involved in a smuggling incident that resulted in a crash. Coe, a retired border patrol agent, said he didn’t have a safe place for them in the county jail, so he put the immigrants in his truck, drove to the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry and dropped them off. “Coe took them to the bridge and they crossed into Mexico and he’s going to do it again,” Matt Benacci said. representative of the sheriff’s department. “Border Patrol wasn’t going to take them, so they made the best decision that could involve keeping them in safe conditions.” Attorney Kathryn Dyer, who unsuccessfully sued to have Coe held in contempt over immigration detention, said the county has been a willing facilitator of Abbott’s agenda. But he said the danger comes when other jurisdictions take note and replicate. “Kinney has taken that leadership role,” he said. “We are already seeing this plan and the promotion of these issues being articulated in other states. When you have a state that ignores the line between federal and state jurisdiction, that puts all of us at risk of ignoring the law moving forward.” While Abbott’s move was met with approval by hardliners on the right, the governor did not do what the small group of Texas sheriffs and elected leaders called for: declare an invasion. “We recognize Governor Abbott’s recognition that the events on the ground along the border fit the Constitution’s notion of an invasion,” Cuccinelli, a Homeland Security official under President Donald Trump, said in a joint statement with Russ Vought, chairman of the Conservative Center. for the renewal of America. But they said Abbott’s move does not go far enough and is little more than catch and release.
