Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has introduced legislation that would authorize states to construct their own barriers along the U.S.–Mexico border as well as prosecute and deport those who enter the country illegally.
If passed, the State Border Defense Act would empower states to counteract President Joe Biden’s immigration policies by allowing state and local law enforcement officers to enforce certain federal immigration laws.
In addition, the legislation would also give states the power to fund the construction of barriers on federal lands or water along the southern border and also permit the removal and/or prosecution of illegal immigrants who violate federal immigration laws or commit crimes when crossing the border.
“Our southern border is overrun,” Mr. Hawley said in a statement on Oct. 4. “Joe Biden’s dangerous open-border policies are making it worse every single day, leaving states like Missouri to deal with the consequences. Since the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws, states must be able to.”
The bill would “effectively abrogate” the Obama-era Arizona v. United States case that saw the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decide on June 25, 2012, to significantly limit states’ ability to create state immigration offenses and expand local law enforcement’s authority over immigration law.
The legislation comes as deportation rates continued to remain low under President Biden compared to his predecessor. As illegal immigrant crossings are reaching record-setting figures, the Biden administration removed only 28,240 illegal aliens from U.S. communities in fiscal year (FY) 2022, according to an annual report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In comparison, the Trump administration removed more illegal immigrants from the country, with 62,739 interior removals in FY 2020 and 85,958 the year before that, according to ICE data.
It also comes as illegal border crossings reached an all-time high in September. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, more than 260,000 illegal aliens were encountered at the southern border last month—marking an all-time high in a single month. The second-highest number recorded was last December when CBP reported 252,320 migrant encounters along the southern border.
Overall, 2.2 million illegal immigrant encounters have been recorded for FY 2023 until August. Once the September numbers are finalized, the 2023 FY total is expected to top 2.4 million, surpassing last year’s record of 2.37 million encounters. In FY 2021, the number of encounters was lower at 1.73 million. And in FY 2020, there were only 458,088 encounters.
‘Invasion’
The authorization of state and local law enforcement to enforce certain federal immigration laws would not only have an impact in Texas or other border states directly impacted by the increase in illegal border crossings. It could also help Democrat-run cities such as New York and Chicago, which have called on President Biden for more action from the federal government to deal with an influx of tens of thousands of people from the southern border.
“If Joe Biden isn’t going to enforce immigration laws why don’t we let the states enforce immigration laws?” Mr. Hawley said during an appearance on Fox News previewing the legislation.
“The State of Texas would love to, the states of Florida, Arizona, they’d love to enforce immigration laws,” he added. “Let’s [sic] them do it, let’s let them secure the border, let’s let them deport illegal immigrants according to our laws.”
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott declared an “invasion” at the southern border late last month due to a surge in illegal immigration, blaming President Biden’s policies for the influx and ordering the National Guard and local law enforcement to help deal with the crisis.
“We deployed the Texas National Guard, DPS & local law enforcement,” The Republican governor wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “We are building a border wall, razor wire & marine barriers,” he added.
The declaration comes as Texas recently won a U.S. appeals court ruling to keep a 1,000-foot barrier of floating and rotating buoys in the Rio Grande. The buoys—which are between four to six feet each—have been in place near the city of Eagle Pass since July as part of Mr. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a multi-agency effort to deter illegal crossings and prevent human smuggling across the border.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, acknowledged on Oct. 4 that there was an “immediate need” to address the border crisis, and waived 26 federal regulations to expedite the construction of the U.S.–Mexico border wall in Starr County, Texas, which was one of the cornerstones of the Trump administration.
In early 2021, the Biden administration stopped the ongoing construction of a border wall after the Democratic president took office. He contended that former President Donald Trump’s focus on constructing the wall was misguided and an example of his purported inability to secure the border and manage immigration.
“As I have stated often, over thousands of years, there are only two things that have consistently worked, wheels, and walls! Will Joe Biden apologize to me and America for taking so long to get moving, and allowing our country to be flooded with 15 million illegals [sic] immigrants, from places unknown,” President Trump said in an Oct. 5 post on Truth Social in response to the Biden administration’s move. “I will await his apology!”