Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has labelled “immoral” a new law that gives state police officers in Texas the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants anywhere in the state.
In protest, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry has already submitted a legal challenge to the law that essentially deems anyone entering Texas illegally as a criminal.
The law making unauthorized entry into Texas a state crime is due to go into effect in early Match, and has drawn sharp criticism for being unlawful, given that immigration enforcement in the United States is the purview of the federal government. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) immediately filed a suit challenging the law as unconstitutional. The organization’s website states clearly that nowhere in the federal Immigration and Nationality Act are undocumented immigrants referred to as criminals.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the legislation package, which includes two other hard-line immigration bills, is necessary “to stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” and that his state has “the Constitutional authority” to enforce them because U.S. President Joe Biden has failed to secure the border.
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