Texas gov. Abbott signs law allowing police to arrest illegal migrants

Texas governor Greg Abbott signed a new law Monday which gives law enforcement officers in the state the power to arrest anyone suspected of entering the country illegally.

The measure comes as photos showed thousands of migrants in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody at Eagle Pass in the state, after illegally making their way into the country Sunday night and Monday morning.

Texas also halted two train crossings from Mexico at El Paso and Eagle Pass as of 8 a.m. Monday, on routes where thousands of migrants have been hitching rides through northern Mexico to the border.

Under Abbott’s new law, known as SB4, illegally entering the country into Texas will become a state crime. People arrested under the law will be able to choose whether to follow a judge’s orders to leave the country or be prosecuted and face either jail or a fine up to $2,000. Repeat offenders will then by charged with a felony.

At the signing in Brownsville, Gov. Abbott said: “[Law enforcement officers] are seeing with their own eyes people who are violating the law and now they’re going to have the ability to arrest them, prosecute them, make them subject to jail, make them subject to being sent back and make them subject to even greater penalties if they dare to come into Texas a second time.”

The SB4 measures are set to come into effect in March, but are expected to face legal challenges before then, as immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.

On Monday morning, photos taken by NewsNation showed a crowd of over 2,000 migrants gathered in neat columns at Eagle Pass waiting to be processed through the border.

They were just a handful of the tens of thousands who have arrived at the border this month, which has already seen about 30,000 more migrant encounters than the same period last month.

As of December 17, CBP had recorded 167,000 migrant encounters, compared to the 130,000 across the first 17 days of November, according to figures obtained by NewsNation.

It was not immediately clear if the lines of thousands at Eagle Pass were related to the rail closures which were temporarily suspended as of 8 a.m. Monday.

Rail lines have become a popular method for migrants hoping to cover vast swaths of ground with considerably more speed and ease than they can on foot. Many have also hopped onboard moving trains close to the border to try to smuggle themselves into the states.

Just days ago, startling footage emerged showing hundreds of migrants lining railroad tracks outside of Eagle Pass waiting for a chance to jump onboard.

The problem has been so prevalent that Mexico’s leading rail line, Ferromax, suspended operations on some lines back in September.

“After observing a recent resurgence of smuggling organizations moving migrants through Mexico via freight trains, CBP is taking additional actions to surge personnel and address this concerning development, including in partnership with Mexican authorities,” CBP said in a statement.

The closures were also undertaken to consolidate personnel resources and spread support across the southern border where migrants are attempting to break through the border, CBP added.

Earlier in December, CBP closed down four major road ports of entry across the southern border from California, through Arizona, and into Texas again at Eagle Pass, citing similar reasons.

Despite the closures, scores of migrants are continuing to arrive daily.

Exactly how closures affect the border region remains to be seen. Residents living in the Mexican coastal town of Rocky Point told The Post last week they had seen their economy dry up less than two weeks after the border closure at Lukeville, Arizona, came into effect on December 4.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has faced criticism from Americans living in Rocky Point, who have complained the Lukeville closure has left them trapped in Mexico at the height of the holiday season.

“We would love to have just one agent at the border at the Lukeville border,” Rocky Point real estate broker Robin Miller told The Post. She and others said Hobbs and American authorities have been provided little meaningful aid to Americans living in Rocky Point.

Hobbs, who previously said she asked President Biden to use the National Guard to open the Lukeville crossing, ordered personnel from the National Guard to help CBP agents manage the border in her state.

But without approval from Washington, Hobbs previously said she is unable to use the National Guard to open the Lukeville Port of Entry, according to The Arizona Republic.