WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — On Tuesday, thousands of migrants wait to be processed by border patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas.
According to border officials, this month Eagle Pass saw an average of 2,000 illegal crossings per day. Officials say on Monday, that number doubled.
“The single highest day that we’ve ever had on record in terms of people being apprehended illegally at the southern border,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said. “Our country cannot be secure while we have 10,000 people a day pouring across our southern border.”
Thune said on Tuesday that the numbers alone stress the need for new border policy. But without a federal plan in place, Texas Governor Greg Abbott took matters into his own hands. On Monday, Abbott signed “Senate Bill 4” into law, giving local police the authority to arrest migrants who illegally cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry.
“Now they are going to have the ability to arrest them and prosecute them and make them subject to jail,” Governor Abbott said.
Less than 24 hours after Abbott signed the bill into law, immigrant rights organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the new state law. In the lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project argue the new law violates the U.S. Constitution because only the federal government has the constitutional authority to enforce immigration law.
Texas Democrats also vowed to fight the new law. On Monday, more than 20 Texas congressional democrats sent a letter to the Department of Justice, urging federal officials to immediately intervene and prevent the law from being implemented.
“This is an extreme law that will not and does not make the communities in Texas safer,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during Tuesday’s White House briefing.
The Texas law is scheduled to take effect on March 5th.
