AUSTIN — A heated moment between Democratic and Republican lawmakers Wednesday caused an hours-long delay in the Texas House as the chamber debated a sweeping border security proposal that would allow state and local police to arrest migrants living in the state without authorization.
The House passed the bill, as well as two others, in a floor session that ended well past midnight. The House also approved increases to the penalty on those engaged in the smuggling of migrants and an additional $1.5 billion for the building and maintenance of a state border wall.
The proposals head to the Senate, except for the anti-smuggling bill, which heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
The chamber came to standstill for almost three hours after Democratic Rep. Armando Walle of Houston confronted Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine. That happened moments after the House approved a motion brought by Harris to limit the number of amendments that the chamber could vote on.
The tense floor debate recalled past House fights over bills banning sanctuary cities, banning abortions at six weeks and supporting stricter voting laws. The chamber gaveled in at 10 a.m. Wednesday and didn’t gavel out until after 4 a.m. Thursday.
A majority of the debate focused on House Bill 4, written by Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro.
Spiller’s bill would make illegal entry into Texas by a migrant a state crime punishable by six months in jail. Repeat offenses would be a state jail felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. The bill also would allow state law enforcement officers to order migrants to return to the foreign country from which they entered the state.
‘Crisis’ at the southern border
In introducing his bill, Spiller said it was a landmark proposal that would provide a solution to a crisis at the southern border.
“Our cries for help and enforcement of our existing federal immigration laws have been ignored by President Biden,” he said. “We’ve had enough.”
Democrats criticized the bill and likened it to a show-me-your-papers policy that would unfairly target migrants and Hispanic Texans who are going about their daily lives.
“This is the kind of border invasion idea that got so many people in my hometown killed,” said Democratic Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso, recalling the 2019 mass shooting by a white supremacist that killed 23 people.
The El Paso Walmart shooter said he committed the massacre to “stop the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said the proposal would undercut the U.S. Constitution so that the state could “flex its muscle with the power that it does not have.”
The bill, Democrats argued, goes against the federal government’s authority in enforcing immigration laws. Some also argued that having state law enforcement officers order migrants back to Mexico would violate due process rights.
Democrats tried unsuccessfully to kill the bill with a legislative tactic known as a point of order, which killed a priority Republican border security bill during the regular session.
Democrats also tried to change the bill, or at least delay the vote, by filing close to four dozen amendments to be debated and voted on. Harris filed a motion that lawmakers approved to limit debate to certain amendments that had already been submitted. It barred lawmakers from filing more amendments as the bill was debated.
Walle objected. During a recess, he upbraided Harris on the House floor as at least 20 members watched.
“This is an emotional issue,” Walle said in a statement late Wednesday evening. “This affects my family and puts so many families like mine at risk.”
The House tentatively approved Spiller’s bill, 83-63. It then adjourned and reconvened so it could meet the Texas Constitution’s requirement that bills be read on three separate days.
The chamber then gave final approval to the three immigration-related measures.
Two additional border bills
Approval of the other two bills related to border security didn’t take as long as Spiller’s — though Democrats tried to stop each from passing.
The anti-smuggling bill, a Senate-passed measure written by Sen. Pete Flores, R-Lakeway, won final approval from the chamber, 92-54. It now heads to Abbott. The legislation on border wall funding, carried by Rep. Jacey Jetton, R-Richmond, advanced to the Senate on an 84-61 vote.
Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City, was the House sponsor of the human smuggling bill that would increase the mandatory minimum penalties for human smuggling.
Democratic lawmakers pushed back on Guillen’s bill because they worried a teenager or young adult could be sent to prison for a decade if they transported within the state a relative who is an undocumented immigrant.
But Guillen rebuffed Democrats’ concerns. “What we’re trying to do with this bill is deter smuggling,” he told Moody.
When it comes to the border wall, Jetton said that there needed to be as many tools as possible to stop migrants from entering the state illegally.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that we keep our community safe from dangerous drugs and weapons to provide all types of support and protection,” he said.
Abbott requested several border security bills for the 30-day session. The special session comes after several Republican priority proposals that were meant to curb illegal immigration failed to pass during the regular session earlier this year.
The governor has lashed out at Biden’s administration, saying it has failed to secure the border and describing the surges in migrant crossings as an “invasion.”
On Tuesday, the state, led by Attorney General Ken Paxton, sued the Biden administration, accusing the Department of Homeland Security of destroying state property when border agents cut razor wire fencing that state officials had deployed along the banks of the Rio Grande.
