On Monday, Texas Governor Abbott signed a new border security bill that allows any law enforcement officer to arrest illegal immigrants accused of unlawfully entering the state from Mexico. Any law enforcement officer.

This law empowers judges to order their removal. It puts deportation powers that have been solely held by the federal government into the state’s hands. There will be legal challenges. The ACLU said Monday that it would sue. Congressional Democrats are urging DOJ to step in to prevent the law from taking effect in March. Democrats have no interest in securing the southern border. DOJ is usually ready to jump in to prevent Texas from protecting its border with Mexico. Joe Biden’s border crisis is intentional.

Abbott touted the measure as a step to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas” during a ceremony in front of a section of state-built border wall in Brownsville, adding that the state “has the constitutional authority to do this.”

The Republican governor accused President Joe Biden, a Democrat, of failing to secure the border and said Texas was stepping up to do it on its own.

“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said as he was flanked by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, Texas Border Czar Mike Banks, the bill’s authors and sponsors, and others. “Texas is doing its part to step up and trying to secure a border made wide open by Joe Biden.”

This law opens up “illegal entry” state crimes. Judges decide whether to issue an “order to return” to Mexico instead of prosecuting the illegal immigrants. The migrant will consent to the decision. However, judges are required to issue return orders for illegal immigrants convicted of illegal entry. This leaves them to face stiff penalties if they refuse orders. They will have to decide between deportation to Mexico or up to 20 years in prison.

Democrat hyperbole is off the charts, as you would expect. There are accusations that it will mean racial profiling. Twenty-one Congressional Democrats signed a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday. They call the legislation “an unlawful attempt to engage in federal immigration enforcement.” They urged the Justice Department to intervene.

“This bill is set to be the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill in the United States; it is clearly preempted by federal law and when it goes into effect will likely result in racial profiling, significant due process violations, and unlawful arrests of citizens, lawful permanent residents, and others,” the Democrats, led by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, wrote. “In practice, this would place people with authorization to be in the United States, even United States citizens, at risk of being forced to leave Texas.”

The Mexican government rejected the legislation. Not that they have a say in Texas law, but, whatever. It’s to Mexico’s benefit for the border to be wide open.

Governor Abbott thinks this will lead to a 50-75 percent decline in illegal crossings into Texas.

Something has to be done. Illegal immigrant crossings from Mexico are up by a third – there have been 167,000 stopped in December already. Texas Democrat Rep, Henry Cuellar said it is time to “secure the border now.” He is concerned about the closing of ports of entry and international bridges because it affects trade. It’s particularly important in the lead-up to Christmas. Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, too.

Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar slammed the Biden administration, saying ‘Our border communities desperately need more federal resources, and we need tougher measures at the border.’

‘We must secure the border now,’ Cuellar continued.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz also tore into the port closures.

‘We frankly need to increase the flow of commercial traffic between the U.S. and Mexico, and I have been leading the fight in Congress to remove unnecessary barriers and build new international bridges,’ he said in a statement.

‘Instead, this administration is prioritizing the processing of illegal aliens and won’t even staff the bridges we already have.’

Send them back. Stop letting them just disappear into the interior of the country. Enforce the laws on the books. This is all basic border security. Immigration is in the top three issues for voters. As it is, Biden is losing every demographic. One thing he could do to stop the bleeding would be to close the border and be serious about it. He won’t but that should be his way forward.