Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to fight a new Texas law allowing state authorities to prosecute migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico.
Border issues previously were left to federal authorities, but the inclusion of state and local police contributes to rising tensions between Mexico and the U.S. as Congress struggles to negotiate border security policy.
“The foreign ministry is already working on the process to challenge this law,” López Obrador said Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “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,” he added.
López Obrador has frequently clashed with Abbot and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over immigration, even encouraging Mexican-Americans not to vote for the pair.
The Foreign Ministry filed a challenge against Abbott’s Rio Grande buoys in July, which were also challenged by the U.S. federal government. A federal appeals court ordered them removed from the river this month.
The new migrant prosecution also sets up a fight with the federal government over border authority because Abbott claims the Biden administration has not done enough to stem the flow of immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The goal of Senate Bill 4 is to stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas. 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,” Abbott said Monday at the bill signing ceremony.
“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” he added, suggesting Texas has a right to defend itself.
El Paso County and the American Civil Liberties Union also filed lawsuits against the state on Tuesday to challenge the law. The legislation is scheduled to go into effect in March.