Gov. Abbott to sign bills allocating $1.5B for border security, criminalizing illegal crossings

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to sign two new immigration bills into law on Monday.

The governor’s office notified that Abbott will head to Brownsville on Dec. 18 to hold “a bill signing for key border security legislation passed during Special Session.”

Those bills are Senate Bill 3 and Senate Bill 4.

SB3 will allocate more than $1.5 billion for border security measures, while SB4 makes it a state crime to cross into Texas from Mexico illegally.

Most recent US Customs and Border Protection data showed that nationwide, from June to October, field agents had more than one million encounters with migrants who crossed the southern border illegally.

Texas’s governor said more action is needed in response to those numbers.

“Altogether under Joe Biden, there have been more than 8 million people come across the border illegally,” Abbott said during an event on November 19. “We have to deal with that here in Texas.”

SB3 sets aside $1,540,000,000 for border security measures, including for constructing new border barriers – and to help pay for Texas cities to enforce the other new border law, SB4.

“It creates a criminal charge for crossing through the Mexico-Texas border undocumented at any moment at any time,” said immigration attorney Haim Vasquez.

SB4 will make it a misdemeanor offense to cross into Texas without documentation.

The new law will allow police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and state troopers to arrest people they suspect illegally in the US.

Immigrant advocates have come out against the bill, calling it a racist attack on the Hispanic community.

“It legalizes racial profiling, and our community’s the one that’s being attacked. Communities of colors are the ones that are going to be jeopardized the most,” said Ramiro Luna, executive director of Somos Tejas.

NBC 5 asked an immigration attorney how people in the Metroplex can protect themselves from being prosecuted under SB4.

Haim Vasquez said anyone going through an immigration process needs to be ready to show receipts to peace officers.

“Any kind of documentation that they have, they should keep it with them at all times,” Vasquez told NBC 5.