Spiller border bill passes House amid debate

An immigration bill sponsored by Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, passed the Texas House last week following an emotional debate, with Democratic opponents complaining that the measure could lead to racial profiling.

House Bill 4 was added to the agenda of a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott on immigration on school vouchers. The measure creates a criminal offense for illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation and authorizes all licensed peace officers, including school resource officers, to remove illegal immigrants.

It authorizes state police to arrest illegal immigrants and return them to a port of entry and order them to return to Mexico, and sets a misdemeanor sentence of up to 180 days in jail for a first-time offender and a felony sentence of up to two years in prison for repeat offenders. The bill will likely face a constitutional challenge, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that immigration enforcement and border protection are the purview of the federal government.

Jeff French, chairman of the Young County Democratic Party, described the bill as “a complete abomination and outrage to U.S. citizenship” whose “unstated mission includes disruption and separation of Texas Latino families.”

“HB4 gives [law enforcement officers] authority to pick up and transport to Mexico any Latino … in Texas,” Mr. French said. “No credentials of any type are specified in this bill, and that makes every Texan-U.S. citizen vulnerable to capture and transport and release inside Mexico.”

Rep. Spiller, who represents Olney, described the bill as “a humane, logical, and efficient approach to a problem created by the [Biden Administration’s] continued failure and refusal to secure our border.”

A shouting match erupted during debate on the bill on the House floor, with Democratic lawmakers protesting a move by Republican Rep. Cody Harris to cut off debate on amendments.

“I love you but this [expletive] hurts,” Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, said to Harris. “Y’all don’t understand [expletive] what you do hurts our community. It hurts us personally, bro.”

Other Democratic lawmakers voiced concern that the bill could lead to arrests of U.S. citizens who don’t have proof of citizenship on their person. A 2021 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that between 2015 and 2020, immigration agents mistakenly arrested, detained and removed about 900 “potential U.S. citizens.”

Rep. Spiller said the bill “protects and supports our Texas law enforcement officers and gives them the tools and authority they need to help keep us all safe.”

It was not clear whether such a law would affect the South American families who recently moved to Olney to work at local businesses.

Police Chief Dan Birbeck said police “have not had significant issues with migrant families in Olney.”

“The migrants working for our local business have work visas and have migrated to the U.S. legally,” he said. “Our businesses work with OPD to do orientations so that the migrants are informed on local and state laws and what is expected to avoid negative interactions with law enforcement.”

Should HB4 become law and withstand legal challenges, “OPD will consult with the Texas Police Chief Association to draft best practices.”

Rep. Spiller’s bill is one of three immigration measures passed by the Texas House last week, including a bill that would appropriate more than $1 billion to build more border barriers, and another that would increase penalties for human smugglers.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have had a historically high number of encounters with migrants on the southern border in recent years: 1.7 million in fiscal year 2021, a record topped the next year when agents recorded 2.2 million encounters, the Texas Tribune reported. In fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, the number dropped slightly to 2 million encounters, the Tribune reported.