AUSTIN: House lawmakers have tightened up language in their main bill to enhance law enforcement along the border, as supporters try to allay some concerns that the effort would have unintended consequences beyond just border security.
The House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee approved the amended bill, which mainly deals with the border duties of the Department of Public Safety. It creates the framework for enhancements, while leaving budget writers to fill in most specifics.
The measure is part of a three-bill package pitched last week by a bevy of House lawmakers as a bipartisan, comprehensive and lasting way to improve security along the Texas-Mexico border.
Even with that broad backing, some raised questions about the bill’s language. Would efforts to toughen anti-smuggling laws, for instance, unintentionally ensnare volunteers at immigration clinics.
Rep. Dennis Bonnen, the Angleton Republican who wrote the bill, since worked with his Democratic colleagues to iron out those complications. And that effort underscores a desire in the House to not entangle border security with contentious immigration policy.
“That’s an issue that belongs in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Our job is to keep Texas safe.”
Border security has been a front burner topic this Legislature, especially after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declared it an emergency item. And Bonnen’s bill, the prevailing House plan, would address the border on several fronts.
It would let the state police to hire experienced law enforcement officials at higher salaries, which could help in ramp up border patrols. It would also use retired state troopers to assist police work and build southbound checkpoints, among other things.
House budget writers have said their border security plan would cost over $500 million, with a good chunk of that paying for an additional 250 state police officials at the border. That’s cheaper than the plans that have been proposed by Abbott and the Senate.
Bonnen said his plan would stabilize the border by providing a “continuum of law enforcement.”
Despite the bill’s wide scope, most of the debate on Wednesday focused on a section about human smuggling.
Pastors and others expressed concern that the bill said a person would commit an offense if he or she “encourages or induces” an unauthorized immigrant to stay in the country. Broadly interpreted, that could include many actions that are clearly not smuggling.
Having heard those objections, Bonnen worked with Democratic Reps. Poncho Nevarez and Joe Moody to tighten up that language. They replaced some “ors” with “ands” and added the qualifier “knowingly” in one spot to limit the scope of the provision.
