Texas Illegal Immigration Laws

Illegal immigration has been an issue in the state of Texas and the other states that share a border with Mexico. Texas shares 1,969 miles of border with Mexico with 23 legal points of entry into our state, both privately and publicly owned. In 2011 the Texas legislature passed over 85 bills dealing with the issue of illegal immigration. Compare that with the handful of bills passed this year as of May. What happened to the Texas legislature in the past two years that made a significant impact on the issue of illegal immigration?

It appears that after the 2012 election the GOP received a wake-up call nationwide that they failed to attract the Hispanic vote (Romney received 27 percent of the Hispanic vote nationally). In addition to the nationwide attention, many Texas Legislative members who regularly filed controversial immigration bills did not return to the House or Senate. With the growing Hispanic population in Texas alone the Republicans have toned down the anti-illegal immigration reform in order to remain incumbents and maintain popularity with their constituents.

Illegal immigration bills need to continue to flow through the legislature for a number of reasons. The first I will address has to do with overall public safety. Our borders need a generous upgrade in order to keep the citizens that inhabit those areas safe. With increasing gang violence that is spilling over from Mexico onto our side of the border it is no longer safe to be within 50-100 miles from the border. I understand that a good number of people that illegally migrate into our country are looking for work and a better place to live, but there are also citizens from other countries that are in similar if not worse conditions that become American citizens the legal route. As of 6 days ago, the unemployment rate in Texas sits at 6.5% and 7.6% nationwide. Jobs that could be available to hard working American citizens are being taken by people that are in our country illegally.

There are plenty of issues in our state (and country) that our government needs to focus their attention on, illegal immigration laws need to be at the top of that list.