House Bill 20 by state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, would test the boundaries of the state’s ability to enforce immigration law, which courts have historically ruled falls under federal purview.
Department of Public Safety agents arrest an undocumented migrant after he was caught on private property as part of Operation Lone Star in Kinney County near Brackettville on Nov. 9, 2021., The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Currently, under federal law, a person arrested for entering the country without permission could be charged with a misdemeanor. If Border Patrol agents arrest them a second time, the person could be charged with a felony and be banned from entering the country for a certain amount of years. Similar to the Senate bill, Schaefer’s legislation would also make trespassing on private property in Texas by migrants entering from Mexico a felony.
The proposal comes as Texas has spent more than $4 billion to slow the number of migrants crossing into the state. In the past two years, state lawmakers have sent thousands of Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guard service members to the border in an attempt to deter migrants from entering into the state.
She noted that the ambitious efforts of Abbott’s border mission dubbed Operation Lone Star, in combination with the federal government’s own enforcement, hasn’t slowed the number of people attempting to enter the country.
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