Governor Abbott of Texas is expected to sign two major border security and immigration-related bills Monday evening as opponents prepare to take legal action upon his signature. 

The bills, SB 3 and SB 4, would allocate more than $1.5 billion to border security, including additional border barriers, as well as make illegal entry a state crime, which would allow law enforcement to arrest — and judges to deport — unauthorized migrants. Mr. Abbott’s signature will be the latest step in his efforts to take on the immigration crisis roiling his state rather than defer to the federal government, which claims that immigration enforcement is in its purview, not Texas’s. 

The bills are facing intense criticism from civil rights and immigration groups, with the American Civil Liberties Union promising to sue once Mr. Abbott signs them, as the Sun has reported. Opponents of the bills call them “racial profiling” and say they endanger immigrants, while supporters say they will enhance border security. They also argue that Texas should have state sovereignty in the absence of law enforcement from the Biden administration.

Mr. Abbott’s representatives did not respond to a request by the Sun to comment on Monday. 

SB 4 is “the strongest border security bill Texas has ever passed,” Texas’s Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, said when the legislature approved it last month. 

“Addressing the crisis on our southern border, perpetuated by the Biden administration, is a top priority of mine,” he said. “SB 4 will require criminal background checks and the collection of fingerprints and photographs of those arrested for crossing the border illegally. The illegal crosser can be jailed or ordered by a magistrate to be returned to the border. If they violate the order and return to Texas, they will face even harsher penalties.”

Meanwhile, so-called sanctuary cities in the north that have opened their arms to illegal immigrants are overwhelmed with buses of migrants that Texas is sending their way, with Governor Pritzker’s chief of staff calling it a “stroke of cruelty.” 

“Pritzker only thinks it’s cruel because it has exposed the failures of his party and their open border policies,” Mr. Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, fired back on X. “Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities until President Biden secures the border.”

The latest numbers from Texas’s government indicate that since launching Operation Lone Star, efforts have led to “489,500 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 37,500 criminal arrests,” with 34,100 felony charges. Texas law enforcement agents have also seized more than 450 million lethal doses of fentanyl.

Texas has bussed more than 12,500 migrants to Washington, D.C., since April 2022, more than 29,300 to New York City, and more than 23,800 to Chicago since August 2022. Texas has also sent migrants by the busload to so-called sanctuary cities such as Philadelphia, Denver, and Los Angeles, and Mr. Abbott promises to keep sending more in efforts his office says are to ”fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border.”

Chicago has been overwhelmed by  the migrant crisis in recent months, as some called for an end of its sanctuary city status and as plans for a migrant tent site face a lawsuit and protests by residents. Now, the city is attempting to crack down on the incoming busloads of migrants after the city council passed an ordinance that requires buses to obtain permits from the city’s Department of Transportation and drop off migrants in designated areas.

The measure allows the sanctuary city to impound migrant buses that don’t comply — which it already has begun doing.

Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, said the ordinance would be “putting these companies on notice that this blatant disregard of city regulations won’t be tolerated.”