AUSTIN, Texas — Republican state politicians have failed to unite around comprehensive border security legislation following three emergency legislative sessions that have stretched over the past six months.
The Texas legislature will finish its 30-day special session Tuesday, the third emergency legislative session that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has called since May.
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In that time, the number of people arrested illegally entering the United States anywhere along the Mexico border has spiked to more than 200,000 arrests per month, with Texas being the most impacted state, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
But despite the time spent across each session trying to craft and pass a major border bill that responds to the border crisis to a greater extent than this year's smaller bills, lawmakers have come up short due to Republican infighting, much of which has unfolded publicly on social media.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Senate, attacked GOP House Speaker David Phelan on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday and blamed his leadership in the lower chamber for the Senate's standstill over H.B. 4, which would make illegally entering the state from Mexico a state crime in addition to federal law that makes it illegal.
"The TX House, under Dade Phelan's failed leadership, has failed to advance meaningful legislation to secure the border. The TX Senate will return for the 4th special session to address concerns of the TX conservative majority–& wait for the House to join," Patrick wrote in a post.
Abbott first called a special session in May and said lawmakers would focus on reducing property taxes by lowering school district maximum compressed tax rates and increasing penalties for human smuggling.
As a result of that session, the legislature passed six border-related bills, which allowed the Texas military to use drones on the border, created a grant program to pay landowners who sustain property damage as a result of illegal immigration through private property, and designated Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
In June, Abbott called a second session aimed at property tax rate issues.
August and September were spent preparing for and carrying out Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial, of which he was cleared by the Senate jury on all 16 counts.
Abbott announced a third session in October meant to address education savings accounts, ending coronavirus restrictions, public safety in Liberty County, border wall funding, and tightening penalties for immigration and human smuggling crimes.
Last month, GOP state Rep. David Spiller introduced H.B. 4. On Oct. 26, the House passed a marked-up version that made illegal entry a Class B misdemeanor, with higher penalties based on a person's criminal history. Local and state police would have the option of returning an illegal immigrant to a port of entry, and if he or she refused to go back, state authorities could charge the individual with a second-degree felony.
A Senate committee took up the bill in early November, different from the House's version.
“The House version of HB4 does not require proper identification of suspects, fingerprints, or a background check and allows illegal border crossers to return whenever they want, time and time again,” Patrick said in a post to X. “Even if returned to the border, this policy would allow unidentified hardened criminals and terrorists to slip through the cracks and cross the border over and over again.”
Phelan responded late last week and accused Patrick of failing to lead the Senate to put forth a viable option.
“The House bill was carefully designed with the Office of the Governor to effectively repel illegal border crossings and swiftly return migrants to their point of entry, whereas the Senate’s pro-illegal immigration bill would house undocumented immigrants for up to 99 years, shouldering Texas taxpayers with the exorbitant costs of their long-term detention, including healthcare, housing, and meals,” Phelan said in a statement.
“Dan Patrick’s baseless critique of House Bill 4 is a transparent attempt to deflect from his chamber’s own impotent response to the growing crisis at our border — a crisis demanding decisive action, not the ineffective strategies being peddled by the Senate," Phelan added.
Patrick said Phelan would work with Abbott's office to remake the original House bill into something more agreeable to the Senate.
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House and Senate lawmakers to return to the capital city as early as Wednesday for a fourth special session.
Abbott's office did not respond to a request for comment.