AUSTIN — Mexican government officials said the country “strongly rejects” a sweeping border security bill that allows for Texas authorities to arrest and deport undocumented migrants back to the foreign nation.
But Wednesday’s statement from Mexico Secretary of Foreign Relations Alicia Bárcena does not clarify if officials there would accept or reject migrants Texas attempts to send back under the proposal known as Senate Bill 4. Mexico does currently accept migrants returned by the U.S. federal government.
Mexican officials criticized the state’s proposal, saying it will result in family separations and racial profiling.
“In addition, the Government of Mexico reiterates its rejection of any measure that involves the involuntary return of migrants without respect for due process,” the statement read.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he would sign the bill, writing in a post on social media that the bill is a “historic progress for border security.”
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday afternoon seeking comment on Mexico’s statement.
The legislation creates a new state crime of illegal entry from a foreign nation, making it a Class B misdemeanor. It authorizes state and local police to arrest migrants who are in Texas illegally. It also allows state judges to order migrants back to the foreign nation from which they entered the state — which would presumably be Mexico.
Legal experts, including former federal immigration judges, along with Democrats in the Texas Capitol have said the bill is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress and the federal government control immigration policy.
State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, the chairwoman of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, said Wednesday that Democrats warned Republicans as the bill progressed that Mexico would not react favorably to the proposal.
“That just goes to show how Republicans are ill-prepared and were not having the conversations that needed to be had in order to pass a bill like this,” she said in a virtual press conference.
Many immigrants who enter through Mexico are citizens of other countries in Central or South America. Democrats and immigration attorneys have warned that if Mexico declines to accept migrants deported, migrants could be harshly punished. They noted that the bill makes it a felony if a migrant refuses the Texas judge’s order to return to the country from which the migrant entered.
During Tuesday’s debate of the bill by the Texas House, Republican lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have created a defense from prosecution for migrants if they are rejected by Mexico.
Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., said the issue will come down to human rights.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said he does not want “to displace migrants,” Ruiz Soto noted.
Late Wednesday, the League of United Latin American Citizens said the group plans to file a federal lawsuit against the Texas bill once it becomes law. LULAC is urging the U.S. Justice Department to intervene and seek an injunction.
“The flood of new racist laws in Texas, Florida, and elsewhere are desperate attempts to try and stop the change that’s coming,” LULAC National President Domingo Garcia said in a statement. “Latinos are growing in numbers, voting strength, and determination to be included in the American dream.”
A pair of Texas congressional Democrats condemned the bill, pointing out that individual states have a limited role in immigration enforcement.
“Make no mistake. This turns every law enforcement officer in the state of Texas into an immigration officer,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio said in a virtual press conference. “It gives them wide latitude to question the citizenship of just about anyone in the state of Texas.”
The bill could further damage the United States’ — and Texas’ — relationship with Mexico, he added.
“When you do something this severe that is unconstitutional without the proper authorities for political gain and political reasons, it also spills over and has an effect on other issues as well, including our economic relationship,” he said.
Mexico’s statement signals officials there see Texas’ move as adding to the ongoing tension between Texas and its neighbor to the south. López Obrador has repeatedly blasted Abbott’s border security policies. He called the treatment of migrants “inhumane” over the summer and criticized the Republican governor for installing buoys and razor wire fencing along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass.
The buoys are still in the water as a federal appeals court has not ruled on whether the state has to remove them.
Abbott defended the constitutionality of the bill before the legislation cleared the Texas House. During a bill signing event last week, the governor said he would not be surprised if the border security proposal ends up the subject of lawsuits, and he lashed out against President Joe Biden.
“The Biden Administration will do whatever they can to deny Texas the ability to step up and safeguard our state and our country and to begin to try to impose some level of control over the border,” Abbott said.
