If you are living in, traveling through or temporarily visiting an American state, you are required to follow that state’s laws. Some new laws and proposed laws in Texas could have an impact on immigrants.
SB1551
Effective September 1, SB 1551 makes it a criminal violation if you don’t identify yourself and provide ID if a police officer asks you for identification when you’re stopped for a traffic violation. Anyone who “fails to provide or display the person’s driver’s license on the officer’s request for the license” can be charged with a class B or C misdemeanor, which is punishable by a $500 fine, and not the previous charge of providing false identification. Undocumented immigrants who do not have a driver’s license and who are stopped for a traffic violation can provide a matrícula consular, an identification card issued by the Government of Mexico through its consulate offices to Mexican nationals who live outside of Mexico.
Floating Rio Grande Barriers
Texas installed a 1,000-foot barrier this year to deter illegal migrant crossings. The Texas 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a Texas judge who ordered that the barriers must be removed, and will allow the floating barriers in the Rio Grande to remain and do not need to be removed by September 15. The barriers can remain in place while the case is litigated. U.S. Justice Department attorneys filed a civil suit that said Texas violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act, an 1899 law that prevents any unauthorized obstruction of United States navigable waters.
Texas Remain In Place Program
The Biden administration is proposing a Texas Remain In Place Program so that immigrants who come through the Texas border are required to remain in Texas until the asylum screening process is complete. The plan would force immigrants to remain in Texas, or possibly other border states, and track their location through GPS monitoring devices such as ankle bracelets, according to the LA Times. According to a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS):
The Biden administration is “is committed to expanding safe and orderly pathways for migrants to lawfully enter the United States, while imposing consequences to those who fail to use those pathways… DHS continuously holds policy and operational discussions on how to leverage our authorities to ensure a fair, humane, and effective immigration process that efficiently removes those without a lawful basis to stay in the country.”
Read More: Undocumented Immigrants and Florida: Is It Safe To Travel To Disney This Summer?
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