Texas Bid for Deportation Power Faces Roadblocks From U.S., Mexico

AUSTIN, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/TNS) — Led mainly by Republicans, Texas lawmakers passed a law allowing state judges to deport unauthorized migrants apprehended near the southern border — an bid to assert power over an issue that typically falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

It hasn’t been going very well.

The law known as Senate Bill 4, passed in November, was supposed to take effect March 5, creating new state crimes for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and a process for returning arrested migrants to Mexico.

Federal courts have thus far blocked Texas from enforcing SB 4 as questions about its constitutionality persist. But even if the courts uphold the law, Texas has run into other roadblocks that could jeopardize the state’s ability to deport migrants.

According to the Biden administration, federal agencies will refuse to accept migrants who are subject to Texas deportation orders, depriving the state of a crucial link in the removal process.

“The message is that the U.S. government is in charge of immigration admissions and removals,” said Kevin Johnson, dean of the University of California at Davis law school.

Additionally, the Mexican government said it will reject any migrant Texas tries to deport.

“We won’t allow that, no matter if they are Mexican nationals or foreigners from other countries,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena said in a March 21 interview.

Deportations are executed by international agreements between nations.

Lacking such agreements, Texas hopes to have Department of Public Safety troopers or local law enforcement escort migrants to a port of entry to be handed over to federal agencies that routinely oversee deportations. State law enforcement would “monitor compliance” by watching the migrant cross to the Mexican side, court records show.

Without cooperation from the U.S. and Mexican governments, Texas has no viable way to enforce deportations ordered by state judges under SB 4, said Jacqueline Brown, director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic at University of San Francisco’s law school.

“I believe it would nullify the deportation provision of the law, and I believe it could result in violence and chaos if Texas attempted to go rogue and just started driving people back and abandoning them in Mexico,” Brown said.

The Mexican government has also warned that Texas-led deportations would cause chaos and confusion at the border.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s office did not respond to emailed questions about obstacles to the state’s deportation plans.

When asked in December what Texas would do if Mexico refused to accept migrants from the state, Abbott said, “We’re going to send them right back to Mexico.”