Governor Greg Abbott called Texas lawmakers back for a third special session.
Four of his six items deal with border security or immigration issues. He wants the Texas legislature to pass laws creating a state criminal offense for coming into Texas illegally, allowing Texas law enforcement officers to arrest and remove them, increasing penalties for smuggling or running a stash house, and expanding the state's controversial border buoy program currently tied up in the courts.
Several items may be bipartisan - increasing penalties for smuggling and stash houses - but a debate on others may be intense, like when Arizona gave local police more immigration powers in 2010.
Republican lawmakers largely support Abbott's plans.
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"We will take them all up. We need to do that. We need to debate them. That's what the committee process is all about," said Rep. Four Price, R - Amarillo.
Tuesday, that process began in the Senate Committee on Border Security, chaired by Granbury Republican Brian Birdwell, which started hearing testimony about how illegal immigration impacts the state of Texas.
For around forty minutes, the Director of the Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, updated the committee Tuesday. McCraw told the group of lawmakers years ago they'd make contact with 2,000 people a month crossing illegally.
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Recently, that number has been closer to 38,000 a month as DPS troopers do what they can to move the flow of people toward points of entry to begin the Federal immigration process.
"The consequences of an unsecured border are not just limited to the border," said McCraw, noting the 18 domestic gangs in Texas who work with Mexican cartels in the illegal drug industry.
House Speaker Dade Phelan tells NBC 5 that the state has spent more than $12 billion to stop illegal immigration since he was first elected as a lawmaker.
"There's not a single issue that's going to solve this. It is so complex and so expensive," said Phelan, R - Beaumont.
Phelan tells NBC 5 he broadly supports all the governor's proposals and says the lower chamber will work out the finer details. He wants lawmakers to keep in mind two aspects of the debate: law enforcement's personal and professional life and the people who live along the Texas-Mexico border grappling with the crisis.
"We have to do everything and anything we can do and be mindful of the people in South Texas. They've been living there for generations and are begging for something different to happen," said Phelan.
Some details may cause pushback from Democrats, like allowing local police to arrest and remove those they think came to Texas illegally. Many Democrats fear that will lead to racial profiling.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said of the special session: "It's clear that the Republican Party of Texas is currently operating in a state of chaos – and the only uniting factor is their hatred for migrants and teachers."
In part spurred on by Abbott's Operation Lone Star, which busses thousands of migrants to northern cities, more of the country faces the service shortages that come with caring for an influx of new people. In the past few weeks, the Biden Administration announced an increase in deportations and continued to build the controversial border wall begun under former President Trump. More democratic mayors and governors have called on Biden to do more, joining a call Republicans have sounded for years.
People in the thousands continue to cross into America illegally, desiring a better life or fleeing violence or chaos in their home countries.
