Texas Can Assist in Reducing the Number of Illegal Aliens in the United States

Introduction

With President Donald Trump in office, the issues surrounding illegal immigration are rapidly changing. To date, he has declared a national emergency at the Southern Border, suspended the entry of illegal aliens into the United States across the Southern Border, and ended taxpayer subsidization of open borders. He is also deporting criminal illegal aliens after invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, an action that has caused Democrats to lose what little credibility they have left as they fight to keep these criminals in the country.

To this point, his efforts seem to be working. According to ABC News, “In the 11 days after Jan. 20, migrants apprehended at ports of entry declined by 93%.” The Federalist reports that illegal migrant apprehensions dropped from “an average of 2,000 per day in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration to just 786 following the inauguration.”

The Trump measures have made illegal crossings into the U.S. much less attractive. Yet there are still “magnets” that might cause potential immigrants to illegally cross the border into Texas. Perhaps even more important given the recent changes in U.S. policy these magnets might also induce illegal aliens to stay in Texas.

One group has estimated the 2022 cost of illegal immigration to Texans at $9.9 billion. These costs make it clear that as important as it is to stop illegal immigration, it is also important to reduce the number of illegal aliens residing in Texas. Reducing the immigration magnets can help us accomplish both of these goals.

Steps to Reduce the Number of Illegal Aliens in Texas and the United States

Texas’ strong economy attracts a lot of businesses, workers, and investment in our state. We obviously do not want to do anything that would harm this. But there are a number of ways the state can make it more difficult for illegal aliens to access the benefits of our strong economy.

Require all businesses that have one employee or more to check the legal status of all employees using the E-Verify system.

In last year’s legislative session, two bills ( SB 1621/HB 3846) required the state to enforce the E-Verify mandate by making participation in the program “a condition of a license, certificate, registration, permit, or other authorization issued by the agency that is required for a person to practice or engage in a particular business, occupation, or profession in this state.” Neither bill passed. All businesses should be required to use the E-Verify system. This could be enforced through denying licenses, like SB 1621 attempted, or through civil and/or criminal penalties.

Stop in-state tuition for illegal aliens at Texas colleges and universities

Texas began providing illegal aliens with access to in-state tuition in 2001. Though public sentiment against it arguably ended the presidential campaign of then Gov. Rick Perry, the Texas Legislature has never repealed it. The American Immigration Council estimated that 59,000 illegal aliens are currently postsecondary students in Texas. The cost of this, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, is $459 million annually.

Stop issuance of birth certificates to children of noncitizens

The U.S. Supreme Court has never decided whether birthright citizenship in required by the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. President Trump has taken steps to force the issue by issuing an executive order requiring “that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons [] when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.” While this issue is likely to be decided at the federal level, Texas should weigh in as well by passing a law that prohibits the issuance of birth certificates for the children of parents who are illegally and/or temporarily present in the state.

Require proof of citizenship or legal residence of parents and students to enroll in Texas government schools

In the past, Texas has tried to reduce the cost of educating illegal aliens. For instance, in 1975 the Texas Legislature changed Texas law to allow only “children who are citizens of the United States or legally admitted aliens” to attend public schools at no cost. As a result, many school districts did not allow illegal aliens to enroll. Other districts charged tuition. This changed in 1982 when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Texas law in the 5-4 Plyler v. Doe decision. In his dissent to the decision, Chief Justice Burger wrote, “We trespass on the assigned function of the political branches under our structure of limited and separated powers when we assume a policymaking role as the Court does today.” The cost of educating illegal immigrants in public schools has hovered around $7 billion annually in recent years. To eliminate this cost, only those who are citizens or legal residents should be able to enroll their children in Texas government schools. School districts must require this proof before enrolling any students. Alternatively, Texas could charge tuition for these students or seek reimbursement for the costs from the federal government.

Ban, or place an 18% tax on, all remittances of money to Mexico and other nations originated by illegal immigrants

Oklahoma places a 1% fee on all transmission of money originating in the state. The fee is refundable to all who file their annual tax returns, which would exclude illegal immigrants. Texas could implement a similar fee at 18% on remittances sent to Mexico and other countries from which illegal immigrants to Texas originate. It could be refunded to all who file a claim with the Texas Comptroller’s office with proof of legal residence. Alternatively, Texas could explore requiring proof of citizenship to send remittances to Mexico.

Stop Medicaid spending on non-citizens that have babies in the state of Texas.

One magnet for illegal immigrants is the ability to for an illegal immigrant to give birth to a U.S. citizen once she arrives in our country. Another part of the attraction of this is free medical care through Medicaid. The cost of this is unknown, but total Medicaid spending for illegal aliens and their children in Texas cost between $671 million and $1.2 billion annually. Ending the free medical care for non-citizens that have babies in Texas would reduce this magnet.

Repatriate anyone in Texas without a green card or citizenship

The biggest magnet for illegal aliens is that once they make it into the United States it is very likely that they will be able to stay. The only way to change this in Texas under the current political landscape is for Texas to begin repatriating anyone in Texas without a green card or citizenship. Doing so would require the Texas governor and the Texas Legislature to invoke their constitutional powers to protect state sovereignty from the invasion of illegal aliens: “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Pow­er, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay” (Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution).

Prohibit the Mexican government or Mexican nationals from buying land in Texas

Legislation has already been filed this session to prohibit certain countries and citizens of those countries from buying land in Texas based on national security concerns. The legislation could be amended to allow the governor of Texas to add Mexico and citizens of Mexico based on the number of border crossings into Texas by illegals.