Gov. Greg Abbott said on Sunday he wants to set a five-year minimum prison sentence for Texas residents who smuggle people into the country after an incident in Starr County last week.
“I’m getting damn tired of Texas residents smuggling people into our country illegally,” Abbott said on Twitter. “I will be seeking a mandatory minimum of at least five years in prison for anyone caught committing this crime.”
The tweet shared a story from The Monitor about the former Starr District crime victims coordinator accused of conspiring to smuggle dozens of people to Houston using a government vehicle since June.
Although Bernice Garza is facing a federal charge, Abbott said he wanted to change the penalty for human smuggling state charges even though he approved an increase to a similar charge during a ceremony in McAllen last year.
Abbott signed Senate Bill 576 during a news conference held during a trip to the Valley on Sept. 22, 2021. The bill changed the classification of the crime from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony when payment was involved. That increased the maximum penalty from ten to 20 years. Though, the minimum penalty for both charges is two years.
Now, the governor wants to change the minimum to five years.
“Right now it’s a third-degree felony in Texas. He wants to make a mandatory minimum,” Jaime Diez, an immigration attorney in Brownsville, said Monday. “They would have to go to the legislature, but I just believe that it is basically playing politics.”
The message will likely carry with many of the governor’s supporters, experts said.
“Abbott has done well among Republicans,” Dr. Benjamin Brown, a UTRGV criminal justice expert, pointed out. “These types of statements and positions are popular among his base.”
A poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin reinforced Brown’s statements and showed the governor amassed a 43% republican approval rating on crime and safety and 50% on immigration and border security matters.
Both political parties have tried a similar approach, Brown said.
“This idea that you’re going to just threaten people or scare people into compliance, it doesn’t often prove effective,” Brown said, referring to the 80’s war on drugs perpetuated by Republicans and Democrats. “We kept increasing the penalties for drug use, drug trafficking and drug possession, and the only thing that happened was our prison population doubled.”
Some fear the changes could yield unintended consequences.
Diez, who often represents people in immigration proceedings, said he’s concerned about the effect it will have on enforcement efforts and border residents’ rights.
“You create a lot of problems mainly for people on the border, because you’ll get people questioned about who is in the car, profiling,” Diez said.
Although the criminal complaint alleges the defendants, including the former crime victims coordinator, knew the immigration status of the people they were transporting and the fees they were paying, Corral said it could deter others from helping,
“On the other end, is rendering aid as a good Samaritan, will something like that be criminalized and can people face time for doing what, I think, a natural human inclination,” Corral posited.
Garza virtually appeared before a federal magistrate judge on Monday to hear the federal charges made against her. Garza will face federal charges before the state can proceed with charges of its own.
Whether Abbott’s statement is posturing or an honest attempt at reform, Corral said, only time will tell.
“This is just a statement,” Corral clarified. State senators and representatives are in the process of filing bills for the upcoming legislative session. “I’d be interested to see later on if the legislature truly takes this up, what they choose to do with it. Will there be some sort of change to what human smuggling means?”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include Bernice Garza’s first name.
RELATED READING:
Docs: Nearly 50 human smuggling events made with Starr County DA vehicle since June
Starr County victim liaison arrested for using county vehicle for human smuggling
