Border Security

After Texas deployed the barrier, a panel ordered it removed. The full appeals court says it can stay while a lower court hears a case on the merits.

During a visit to the Texas-Mexico border, Trump said Abbott has done a great job and is somebody “I would very much consider.”

The law would have allowed local and state police to arrest a person who allegedly entered the country illegally.

A Texas House panel will hear the latest version of a Republican-backed bill to make unauthorized entry into a state crime. A similar bill, one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities, failed in the state’s third special session, which ended earlier this week.

The Texas Senate took no action Sunday on a far-reaching state immigration bill after GOP infighting stalled the proposal. Absent a legislative miracle before Tuesday, the measure will likely be revisited when Gov. Greg Abbott calls lawmakers back to Austin for the fourth time.

The five-member panel heard bills Tuesday that would increase penalties for human smuggling and make unauthorized entry a state crime.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday the latest special session will focus on school vouchers and the creation of a state deportation force, two highly controversial issues that have failed in previous special and regular sessions.

HB 1, the state’s next two-year budget, goes into effect on September 1. In addition to appropriating more than $5 billion for border security, lawmakers also passed several bills that expand the state’s border and immigration-enforcement powers.

Abbott included border security funding and increased penalties for migrant smugglers on his list of emergency items during Thursday’s State of the State address. He also ordered lawmakers to address the fentanyl crisis as he continued to rail against President Biden’s border policies.

History shows there are few governors who have attempted to make immigration central to their campaigns, and it has worked — in the short term.