Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of Senate Bill 2424, which would create a state misdemeanor or, depending on the context, a felony for those who illegally enter Texas via an international border. My name is Joshua Treviño, and I am the Chief of Intelligence and Research at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research institution in Austin, Texas. In my role, much of my work focuses on the violence in Mexico, and the reclamation of Texas’s sovereignty under the Constitution.
Building a Durable Immigration Enforcement Network with 287(g) Agreements
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently reported a landmark milestone: the 287(g) program now has over 2,500 active Memorandums of Agreement covering 39 states and two U.S. territories. These agreements authorize ICE “to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.” This...