Abbott signs Texas SB 4, making illegal border crossing a state crime

Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law after the Texas Legislature passed it during the fourth special session of 2023, making Texas the first state since Arizona to criminalize illegal border entry as a state offense. SB4 created three new state criminal offenses: illegal entry from a foreign nation (Class B misdemeanor), illegal reentry after removal (second-degree felony), and refusal to comply with a state magistrate return order. The law authorized Texas and local police to arrest anyone they suspected of crossing the border between ports of entry, and gave state magistrate judges -- not federal immigration courts -- authority to order deportation back to Mexico. The Biden administration immediately signaled it would challenge the law as unconstitutional.