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    Senior Member European Knight's Avatar
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    State Explores Flexing Legal Muscles on Immigration

    Crafted carefully, state laws can be written that would allow Texas to crack down on undocumented immigrants and illegal border crossers without running afoul of the U.S. Constitution, a state attorney told
    lawmakers recently.

    In at least one case, he said, it's already happened.

    The guidance comes as Republican lawmakers continue accusing the Obama administration of failing to secure the border, citing the recent influx of undocumented immigrants from Central America into the Rio Grande Valley.

    The issue was thrust back into the spotlight on Tuesday when Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to stay in the Rio Grande Valley despite earlier plans to end its deployment this month.

    During a House State Affairs committee hearing last week on border security and immigration, Texas Deputy Attorney General Brantley Starr told lawmakers they have more options than they might think to flex state legal muscle in the
    traditionally federal realm of immigration enforcement.

    Although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that “foreign policy and related matters, such as immigration, are one of the few enumerated powers the federal government has,” Starr said states do have some room to work.

    “You do have the ability to create state-level offenses that have an immigration element to them as long as they are sufficiently unique,” he said, citing House Bill 11, the Legislature’s 2015 omnibus border security bill.

    The bill, signed by Abbott in June, made it a state felony to smuggle someone into the country for pay. Starr said he believes the bill would stand up to a court challenge on Constitutional grounds if one were brought.
    (There is no current challenge, the attorney general’s office confirmed.)

    “There were new state-level elements to that offense [in] that you’re taking money in exchange for bringing someone across the border illegally,” he said. “And the addition of the new state-level elements to that offense made it sufficiently unique.”

    The new laws are already helping state police apprehend alleged criminals that federal agents might let go, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told the committee.

    Border Patrol agents and state troopers recently came across a stash house for undocumented immigrants, for instance, where eight people, including two pregnant women, were being held against their will, McGraw said.

    Because the state had jurisdiction in its own right, state police could make the arrests.

    “With Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney’s office, it was too low under their threshold,” he said. “[The state] can go to the district attorney’s office and say, ‘Wait a minute,’ and the district attorney took that offense.”

    Starr also said he believes state lawmakers can pass a bill outlawing "sanctuary cities" that would withstand a court challenge. The Supreme Court upheld one of four provisions of a controversial Arizona law, SB 1070, dubbed the “show

    me your papers” bill, allowing police to ask a person if they were in the country legally, Starr said.

    But it didn’t take away the power of the federal government to deport the person, which is why it wasn't struck down.

    “That law survived because it could be implemented in a way that ultimately left discretion to the federal government to detain that person and remove them from the country,” he said.

    Starr said that an essential element to a Texas "sanctuary cities" bill would be carving out an exception for school districts because the Supreme Court has already ruled that students cannot be questioned about their immigration status.

    The school exception was included in the state's 2011 proposal that failed to make it to former Gov. Rick Perry's desk.

    Jacqueline Watson, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Texas chapter, warned the committee the issue isn't as simple as the state made it seem.

    “This opinion does not foreclose other pre-emption and constitutional challenges to the law,” she said.

    She said the Arizona bill shouldn’t be seen as a blueprint or viewed as a license for officers to stop a person solely on immigration matters.

    "A state officer is required to make reasonable attempts to determine the immigration status of any person they stop, detain or arrest on some other legitimate basis if reasonable suspicion believes that the person is an alien and is
    unlawfully present in the United States," she said.


    State Explores Flexing Legal Muscles on Immigration | The Texas Tribune



  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that “foreign policy and related matters, such as immigration, are one of the few enumerated powers the federal government has,” Starr said states do have some room to work.
    The only power the federal government has over immigration is to prohibit it, under Article 1, Section 9, but the power of the states to admit immigrants clearly rests with the states under Article 1, Section 9, not the federal government, subject of course to the power of the federal government to prohibit such immigration after the year 1808. The power to prohibit and prevent immigration is not an exclusive power of the federal government, states may also prohibit and prevent foreign immigration into their states and may clearly without any question or issue at all, prohibit and prevent illegal immigration.

    States need to wake up and start reading the US Constitution so they know what this wonderful document actually says, instead of relying on what other people say it says.

    US Constitution
    Article 1, Section 9.

    The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
    https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
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    Senior Member Captainron's Avatar
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    Besides illegals, there are many laws relating to the conduct of legally admitted aliens. I am pretty sure the enforcement in these is very lax, too. And not only are the laws supposed to be enforced (i.e automatic deportation) against those committing them, they include those who assist or collude with them also. These include aggravated felonies and crimes of moral turpitude. For example, instead of giving illegal women engaged in prostitution T or U visas to stay here---even if they were somehow unwittingly subjected to that by smugglers-- they still participated in it. They were taking on risk by coming here illicitly.
    "Men of low degree are vanity, Men of high degree are a lie. " David
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    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Captainron View Post
    Besides illegals, there are many laws relating to the conduct of legally admitted aliens. I am pretty sure the enforcement in these is very lax, too. And not only are the laws supposed to be enforced (i.e automatic deportation) against those committing them, they include those who assist or collude with them also. These include aggravated felonies and crimes of moral turpitude. For example, instead of giving illegal women engaged in prostitution T or U visas to stay here---even if they were somehow unwittingly subjected to that by smugglers-- they still participated in it. They were taking on risk by coming here illicitly.
    Oh absolutely! You are so right, Captainron. Great point! Thank you.
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  5. #5
    Administrator ALIPAC's Avatar
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    If Texas clamps down for real, many other states will follow their lead!

    W
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  6. #6
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Absolutely, W. You are so right about that!
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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Texas rocks!
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