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Texas governor, Greg Abbott left social media users enraged after he signed a bill allowing the police to arrest all the migrants who have entered the state illegally. The signed bill claims that entering Texas illegally is a criminal offense and will be enforced from March 2024. Abbott signed the bill at an event in Brownsville, Texas on Monday, December 18, 2023.
“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself. The bill’s goal is to stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” the Governor said.
Governor Abbott also announced that the law is expected to take effect in March 2024. Additionally, Senate Bill 3 also announced that $1.54 billion will be spared from the state money to continue the construction of the barriers along the 1,200-mile border.
According to CNN, Greg Abbott's passing of the bill sent shockwaves in the communities in the area, especially the Latinos. They make up almost 40% of the state's population. After the news was reported, it was also uploaded to social media and left netizens shocked. While many condemned the bill, others wondered if the governor could "enforce the law."
The state of Texas had seen a similar situation in 2021 as well, just six months before Joe Biden was named the President of the US. At the time, Texas state troopers started teaming up with private landowners along the Mexico border. They began arresting migrants for trespassing on these properties, sidestepping the usual immigration charges.
Netizens reacted as Greg Abbott passed the bill which declares illegal migrants as criminals
State Senator Joan Huffman, a Republican from Houston, brought in Senate Bill 3. It is a bill that grants Governor Abbott the authority to utilize $1.5 billion for the construction of additional barriers along the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border.
This amount would also be used in setting up 16 miles of steel bollard barriers in Starr, Cameron, Val Verde, and Webb counties to avoid the movement of immigrants.
This proposal is part of a comprehensive set of border-related bills currently under consideration during the ongoing special legislative session. In the previous month, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 4. This bill criminalizes unauthorized border crossings, empowers law enforcement to arrest offenders, and mandates judges to order their return to Mexico.
It has been a while since the US government started acting strictly toward illegal immigrants. However, Greg Abbott’s new decision to arrest the immigrants, if they do not have the essential papers, saw people react in different ways. While some said that Abbott was "protecting his state," others said that the Governor should have passed the bill years ago.
As Greg Abbott’s new bill became the headline, social media users were left sharing their reactions. Many praised the government for taking the step, even as others thought that it would be difficult for the authorities to implement it. At the moment, Greg Abbott has remained tight-lipped about the comments pouring in.
