Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed into law Senate Bill 4 in December which is a controversial set of measures to stem immigration across its southern border. The two main features of the legislation create stricter sentencing guidelines for human smuggling and empowers local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants and deport them.
Civil rights groups and the federal government have sued to block the new immigration law declaring it unconstitutional. “Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta in the federal government’s complaint.
Starting Tuesday 6 February, a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years will apply to those who are accused of smuggling undocumented immigrants. If the offense is punishable as a first-degree felony the minimum prison sentence is 15 years, or more if another applicable provision of law applies.
The penalty drops to 5 years for those transporting certain close family members, those with a “third degree of consanguinity” or “third degree of affinity.” The concern is that the definition of smuggling is quite broad in Texas, and merely driving a family member to the doctor could result in a 10-year jail term.
Those who hide immigrants in safe houses, popularly known as “stash houses,” will face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years behind bars.
Punishments will be increased to that prescribed for the next higher category of offense if it was committed in an area under a declared state of disaster. The measure also expands criminal sanctions for other crimes related to victims that occurred during the commission of smuggling.
Unless the courts block the measure, starting 5 March, under another part of SB4, state and local police officers will gain the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants and suspects attempting to cross the southern border of the United States. Currently, state and local governments must request permission from the federal government before making any type of arrest on undocumented immigrants.
This law also seeks to increase penalties for undocumented immigrants, since people who are arrested at the southern border could be charged with a first-degree felony and face 180 days to five years behind the bars, depending on their criminal history. The penalty could be increased to a second-degree felony for immigrants who refuse arrest, increasing the sentence from 2 to 20 years.
