We are confident that Texas anti-immigrant law will not be approved: Bárcena

Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena assured this Saturday that the Mexican government is confident that the Texas anti-immigrant law SB4 will not come into force, but noted that the country is prepared for its eventual implementation.

“Mexico is not only prepared, it is aware that this can happen and that is why we come to our consulates to strengthen the programs” to care for compatriots who may be affected, he said at the conclusion of a four-day tour of the border region.

The chancellor visited Ciudad Juárez between Wednesday and Saturday, as well as the Texan cities of El Paso, San Antonio, Eagle Pass and Laredo, where she met with authorities, activists, as well as with Mexican consuls, according to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Relations (SRE).

Yesterday, after meeting with local Eagle Pass and US federal authorities, to whom she called for collaboration for the benefit of the border community, the head of diplomacy had a meeting with the media, where she expressed that the Mexican government “is in talks” with the Joe Biden administration in relation to SB4, legislation that is frozen by judicial authorities and that creates the crime of “illegal entry” into Texas territory and empowers local police and judges to detain, imprison and deport foreigners on the sole suspicion that they are immigrants without documents and contemplates penalties for them of up to 20 years in prison.

“Let’s see, we, first of all, are optimistic that SB4 will not come into force. As I say, it is a contest – let’s put it that way – between the federal government and the state government. It seems to us that the immigration issue is a federal issue, we are treating it the same, it is a federal issue in Mexico and it is a federal issue in the United States,” Bárcena said when asked about the issue.

“Of course we are in talks with the federal government. “The federal government is the one who, through the Department of Justice, is really responding or, in a certain way, suing – also – the Government of Texas, so that this SB4 is not implemented,” he explained.