*Illegally* enter Tx under *state* law? Nope. It is federal law

[jerryab2]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/18/politics/texas-border-bill-abbott/index.html

Moving to TX is even more dangerous for US citizens than previously.

[buynholdisdead]

@FCorelli

This is one of those areas where The Left is just too knee-jerk and full of themselves to see the trees.

I don’t think the right has done anything to fix the problem. These stunts are just that, stunts. If they really wanted to fix the border problem none of them would go home for the holidays.

Andy

[ptheland]

@buynholdisdead

If they really wanted to fix the border problem none of them would go home for the holidays.

Let’s not go full Grinch on them. They can have Christmas Day off. And half a day on Christmas Eve. But a few will need to work the holiday to keep the shop open at minimum staffing levels.

[bjurasz]

@buynholdisdead

I don’t think the right has done anything to fix the problem. These stunts are just that, stunts. If they really wanted to fix the border problem none of them would go home for the holidays.

Exactly right. Perhaps time I tell two stories yet again, both here in Texas.

1. I know north rural Texas farmers who KNOWINGLY employ illegal aliens, but also complain about them all the time.

2. A plumber we hired 10 years ago to replace leaking cast iron sewer pipes told me he can’t hire a “white boy” to do this work at ANY salary. He was not exaggerated. Just think of what those workers were digging through - those were black water sewer pipes after all that were leaking like mad.

Want to put a real dent in this “problem”? Stop hiring them. Penalize those who do. Make it so they can’t work. Now… how fast does Tyson Foods start sending lobbyists to stop that from happening? How bad do you think inflation would get? How bad do you think the job problem would get?

Don’t build the wall. Hire more immigration agents. Increase capacity at border crossings. Make it easier to get here legally. It will cost money, yes. But it’s the only solution that actually makes sense.

[TucsonBones]

@bjurasz

Want to put a real dent in this “problem”? Stop hiring them. Penalize those who do.

This is just so simple and at the same time hypocritical. Big Agriculture knowingly employs undocumented workers, about half of the big agriculture workforce is undocumented.

There is a legal way to hire these workers but employers don’t want to do the paperwork, and more than likely don’t want to obey labor laws. There is not any State Representative that even wants to talk about “real criminal penalties” for corporations and employers bringing in undocumented workers. “Hire undocumented workers and go to jail.” I havn’t seen that campaign slogan.
Politicians and Campaign Managers want to demonize undocumented immigrants crossing the border, calling them “illegals” or even worse. Why aren’t we calling these employers “illegals”? Why aren’t they arrested and charged?
Because agriculture pays

[bjurasz]

@TucsonBones

Politicians and Campaign Managers want to demonize undocumented immigrants crossing the border, calling them “illegals” or even worse. Why aren’t we calling these employers “illegals”? Why aren’t they arrested and charged?
Because agriculture pays

Yup! And I happen to know farmers who employ them, knowingly, all the while complaining that they are here. Heck, I know someone in rural Texas who sold his small business to one, he knew it, and he complains about them. Didn’t stop him from making a buck off him though.

[steve203]

I have noticed that, since southern states have taken to shipping illegals to “sanctuary cities”, the mayors of those cities have been voicing the same complaints as southern governors. So, everyone is in agreement on “burdening social services systems”.

That brings us to “catch and release”. Once arrested, migrants can either be housed, at considerable expense, until their case can be heard, or given a work permit and released, so they can support themselves, until their hearing date.

So what does the Gov of Texas intend to do with the arrested migrants? Build concentration camps to house them until their hearing? Or deny them legal due process, and deport them immediately, so they can cross the border again the next day?

Of course, now we have this “poisoning our blood” narrative in play, so it is even more difficult to get past “enforcement theater” and work out a solution.

Steve

[TucsonBones]

@bjurasz

I happen to know farmers who employ them, knowingly

The CEO of Archer Daniels Midland should get jail time. That would send a message; he’s an immigrant by the way so that shouldn’t prevent the anti-immigrant crowd from calling him an “illegal”.

[albaby1]

@steve203

So what does the Gov of Texas intend to do with the arrested migrants? Build concentration camps to house them until their hearing? Or deny them legal due process, and deport them immediately, so they can cross the border again the next day?

They’re hoping most people will leave of their own volition, rather than go to jail for a very long time.

If you’re arrested for “illegal entry,” the magistrate at your appearance (long before your trial) can issue an order directing you to return to your country of origin - though only if you agree to it. If you agree to it and leave, you’re good. If you don’t accept the order, you can be prosecuted, and it’s just a misdemeanor - but if convicted, you’ll also get the “return to home” order.

If you fail to comply with the “return to home” order, it’s a second degree felony. Up to 20 years in prison.

https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB4/id/2851390/Texas-2023-SB4-Enrolled.html

[jerryab2]

@bjurasz

Want to put a real dent in this “problem”?

Start arresting management for hiring people not eligible to work in the US. No question it works. We have seen it in the headlines. Companies shut down as a result. Management sometimes going to jail. Other times, they choose to require each “undocumented” worker to prove legal residence and authorization to work in the US. No paperwork = let go.

[TucsonBones]

@albaby1

They’re hoping most people will leave of their own volition, rather than go to jail for a very long time.

Texas has the second highest unauthorized immigrant workforce percent. Texas’ population of unauthorized immigrants has remained consistent at 1.6mil since 2019.
That’s a lotta of court cases.
The Meat, Beef & Poultry Processing industry in Texas is an annualized $26 billion industry that operates with 40% of their workforce undocumented.
That’s a lotta beef

[ptheland]

@albaby1

If you don’t accept the order, you can be prosecuted, and it’s just a misdemeanor - but if convicted, you’ll also get the “return to home” order.

I thought deportation was strictly reserved to the Federal government, not the states. Can a state court order someone to leave the country?

Then what about Mexico? (Since all illegal immigrants are apparently either Mexican or Muslim - at least according to Texas - and this bill isn’t targeted at Muslims.) Mexico gets some say about who can enter their country. That must certainly be stepping on the Federal government’s job of dealing with foreign relations.

–Peter

[Leap1]

@buynholdisdead

I don’t think the right has done anything to fix the problem. These stunts are just that, stunts. If they really wanted to fix the border problem none of them would go home for the holidays

The press set up a deadline because the new year is here. Drama

There is a chance Biden funds more border patrol and personnel. It is the right thing to do. I think the right will fund Ukraine in the deal. Again the right thing to do. Israel will get more funding the people support that but young people think in terms of parental war. No authority over me! How unfair.

This stuff will probably get resolved in the next five weeks. Drama

The other issue the EU needs to fund Ukraine. We need to know their euro amounts. It feels like they would leave more of the expense to us if possible.

All the pols want to come out as winners. Not just one side of the other. All the money is needed. Not this minute but over the next two months. Fighting in Ukraine in the winter is slow. Mud.

[albaby1]

@TucsonBones

Texas’ population of unauthorized immigrants has remained consistent at 1.6mil since 2019.
That’s a lotta of court cases.

As I read the statute, it creates a new crime only for the act of entering the state illegally from another nation. I don’t believe it would apply to anyone already in the state.

@ptheland

I thought deportation was strictly reserved to the Federal government, not the states.
Can a state court order someone to leave the country?

Technically, Texas would not itself be conducting any deportation. They obviously don’t have the power to do that. But they will throw you in jail for two to twenty years if you don’t leave after they adjudicated you as having entered the state illegally.

[DrBob2]

@steve203

So what does the Gov of Texas intend to do with the arrested migrants?

The law empowers judges to order their removal, putting deportation powers that have been solely held by the federal government into the state’s hands. There will, of course, be legal challenges.

Something needs to be done. There were over two million ‘encounters’ in the past year. International trade and legal crossings are being disrupted.

With two key Mexico rail gateways shut down, cross-border freight begins stacking up
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-two-key-mexico-rail-gateways-shut-down-cross-border-freight-begins-stacking-up/ar-AA1lGyCp

DB2

[ptheland]

@albaby1

But they will throw you in jail for two to twenty years if you don’t leave after they adjudicated you as having entered the state illegally.

So you’ll get three hots and a cot in a place that might be safer than the place you left. Is Texas ready to fill up their jails? That might be a tempting offer to some who are in real jeopardy in their home country.

Also, “entered the state illegally”? That’s an interesting concept. That starts sounding like it could apply to someone who crossed the US-Mexico border in Arizona, then traveled inside the US to Texas. I’m a bit weak on constitutional issues, but is the right to freely travel between US states limited to citizens? Doesn’t that raise more issues?

How about someone ordered to leave the state - could they go to Arizona or Oklahoma instead of Mexico? That’s leaving the state.

And while we’re having fun - How about someone from, say the UK, who overstays their student visa? They’re now in the country illegally. Could Texas threaten them with this not-really-deportation deportation?

–Peter

[TucsonBones]

@albaby1

As I read the statute, it creates a new crime only for the act of entering the state illegally from another nation. I don’t believe it would apply to anyone already in the state.

“or illegal presence in this state by a person who is an alien”

[rainphakir]

@ptheland

Is Texas ready to fill up their jails?

Always!
2 decades ago, TX counties all built magnificent new county jail complexes, and filled em with the overflow from the state jails.
TX Justices know how to “lock em up!”.
At handsome remuneration, too!
Quite handsome.

There are lots of TX prisons scattered around, too. You can spend your days in prison in Eden.

Lots of guard jobs, and other ancillary support jobs, makes it a win win for the county.

We got plenty room, and I bet the state will dun the feds for payment.

The small burg I now call home, has an “asylum family detention center” (an old, refurbed prison) that no one in town talks about. I hear it’s full of women n children. Out of sight, out of mind, it’s hidden in a brushy area along a creek.

ralph.

Eden · Texas 76837

[steve203]

@rainphakir

Always!
2 decades ago, TX counties all built magnificent new county jail complexes, and filled em with the overflow from the state jails.
TX Justices know how to “lock em up!”.
At handsome remuneration, too!
Quite handsome.

The network news talked to a Texas county sheriff in their report today. The sheriff has 50 vacant beds in his jail. Something like 12,000 people entered yesterday. Who is going to pay to house and feed these people while they await their hearing? Who is going to pay for the hundreds, or thousands, of new magistrates to hear their cases?

Sadly, what Texas did is nothing but “enforcement theater”, because it has not been thought out. But the taxpayer of Texas own it, because it was their elected (L&Ses) that enacted it, so don’t come crying to DC for money to enforce it.

Gandhi would destroy this system in days, by having tens of thousands of people show up and peaceably surrender, until the Texas system collapses under the numbers. They might be able to jail 500, but they can’t jail 30,000. If they find some way to jail 30,000. Bring another 30,000.

Steve

[rainphakir]

@steve203

don’t come crying to DC for money to enforce it.

LOLOLOL!
TX has a high “federal handout IQ”, and a skilled bureaucracy for applying for federal blue dollars. Our L&SS view those as OUR dollars!

If we can’t house em, we’ll bus em to a sanctuary city!

We got lots of state land where a pop-up tent prison could sit.
I bet lots of “connected” ranchers would love to get some of that fed lucre, too.

ralph