Texas immigration law SB4 goes into effect today: these are the new penalties for illegal invaders

[Michael A. Turdsmeller]

Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed into law Senate Bill 4 in December
which is a controversial set of measures to stem immigration across
its southern border. The two main features of the legislation create
stricter sentencing guidelines for human smuggling and empowers
local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants and deport them.

Civil rights groups and the federal government have sued to block
the new immigration law declaring it unconstitutional. “Under the
Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court
precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with
the framework enacted by Congress,” said Associate Attorney General
Vanita Gupta in the federal government’s complaint.


Starting Tuesday 6 February, a mandatory minimum sentence of 10
years will apply to those who are accused of smuggling undocumented
immigrants. If the offense is punishable as a first-degree felony
the minimum prison sentence is 15 years, or more if another
applicable provision of law applies.

The penalty drops to 5 years for those transporting certain close
family members, those with a “third degree of consanguinity” or
“third degree of affinity.” The concern is that the definition of
smuggling is quite broad in Texas, and merely driving a family
member to the doctor could result in a 10-year jail term.

Those who hide immigrants in safe houses, popularly known as “stash
houses,” will face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years behind
bars.
Punishments will be increased to that prescribed for the next higher
category of offense if it was committed in an area under a declared
state of disaster. The measure also expands criminal sanctions for
other crimes related to victims that occurred during the commission
of smuggling.

Additional immigration laws take effect in March targeting migrants

Unless the courts block the measure, starting 5 March, under another
part of SB4, state and local police officers will gain the authority
to arrest undocumented immigrants and suspects attempting to cross
the southern border of the United States. Currently, state and local
governments must request permission from the federal government
before making any type of arrest on undocumented immigrants.

This law also seeks to increase penalties for undocumented
immigrants, since people who are arrested at the southern border
could be charged with a first-degree felony and face 180 days to
five years behind the bars, depending on their criminal history. The
penalty could be increased to a second-degree felony for immigrants
who refuse arrest, increasing the sentence from 2 to 20 years.

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