Texas governor signs legislation making illegal immigration state crime

• New legislation is set to take effect in March next year.
  
• Legislation sparks potential clash with Biden administration.
• Unclear whether DOJ will sue Texas over new law.
  

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed a strict legislation, making it a criminal offence to enter the state illegally crossing the southern border, sparking a potential clash with President Joe Biden's administration over immigration policy and border enforcement.

The law allows authorities of the American state to arrest illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, NBC News reported.

Abbott, a Republican who has implemented other policies directed at migrants that have drawn court challenges, signed the bill at an event in Brownsville, Texas.

“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said, adding that the bill’s goal was to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas.”

Meanwhile, crossing into the United States between designated ports of entry is already a crime under federal law.

Abbott's signature follows the Republican-controlled state Legislature's approval of the measure and Washington's negotiations on an immigration deal in exchange for additional aid to Ukraine and Israel which is a high priority for the White House.

Texas authorities have been arresting migrants on state misdemeanour charges of criminal trespassing under Operation Lone Star, a border enforcement program.

However, the new law makes it a misdemeanour to enter Texas from a foreign county at any location other than a lawful port of entry, set to take effect in March.

It is unclear whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) will sue Texas over the new law after a letter signed by a group of 21 Texas Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus called for the DOJ to step in and block the new legislation.

The group described the law as “the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill.”

The law is the Texas governor's latest attempt to deter migrant crossings through state actions.

Previously, Abbott ordered the installation of a 1,000-foot floating barrier near Eagle Pass, Texas, and for the placement of razor wire near the Rio Grande to stop migrants from entering the state after crossing the river from Mexico.

Both efforts were rejected in court, with a federal appeals court ruling this month that the state must remove the buoy barrier and a federal court rejecting Abbott's request last month to stop federal authorities from removing the razor wire.

Abbott's office has also bused thousands of migrants out of Texas to cities like Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles since last year.