President of Mexico Vows to Challenge Texas’ New Immigration Legislation

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has vowed to fight a new Texas law that gives state officials the authority to prosecute migrants who cross into the United States at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The foreign ministry is already working on the process to challenge this law,” López Obrador said Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Previously the purview of federal authorities, putting state and local police on border enforcement creates increased friction between the U.S. and Mexico as Congress struggles to hammer out a deal on border security.

López Obrador added that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “wants to win popularity with these measures, but he’s not going to win anything, but he’ll lose favor, because in Texas there are so many Mexicans and migrants.”

The Mexican leader has often sparred with Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the issue of immigration, going so far as to tell Mexican-Americans not to vote for the Republican governors.

In July, the Foreign Ministry filed a challenge against Abbott’s buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, which was also challenged by the Biden administration. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ordered Texas to reel in the floating immigration barrier, citing threats to navigation and human life.

The new law also pits the Lone Star State against the federal government in a showdown over which entity has authority at the southern border, as Abbott contends the administration has failed to stem the flow of illegal migrants crossing into his state.

“The goal of Senate Bill 4 is to stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” Abbott said at Monday’s bill-signing ceremony. “It creates a criminal offense for illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation for repeat offenders, that creates the events of illegal reentry with a potential prison sentence term of up to 20 years.”

“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” he said, adding that the Founding Fathers wrote a clause into the Constitution that gives Texas the right to defend itself.

The legislation, which is slated to take effect in March, was immediately challenged by El Paso County and the American Civil Liberties Union, according to The Hill.