The Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday passed immigration bills that would allocate more than $1.5 billion for additional border barriers and make illegal crossing of the Texas-Mexico border a state crime. Senate Bill 3 would allocate $1.54 billion for border barriers and to pay state troopers to patrol Colony Ridge, a housing development near Houston that is reportedly a magnet for undocumented immigrants, according to far-right politicians.

According to a Texas Tribune publication during the debate, lawmakers adopted an amendment that would allow some of the money to be used to assist local police in enforcing the new state crime proposed in the Senate by Bill 4. The latter would make it a state misdemeanor to illegally cross the border from Mexico into Texas, authorize the arrest of undocumented immigrants by Texas peace officers, and require a state judge to order return to Mexico in lieu of prosecution.

SB 3, which was approved by 84 votes to 59, will return to the Senate for a vote on the amended version. SB 4 was approved by 83-61 votes and now goes to the governor's desk. The bill provides that the charge can be elevated to a felony in certain circumstances, such as when the migrant is charged with other crimes or refuses to comply with a state judge's order to return to Mexico. Democrats have tried to introduce changes, including excluding immigrant children from prosecution, to no avail.

During the debate, concerns arose about the allocation of funds, with Democrats questioning why the money would not go to areas such as hospitals, health care or prison infrastructure. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jacey Jetton, declined to debate Colony Ridge's safety, and Rep. Joe Moody introduced amendments to verify the immigrant's legality before processing, both to no avail.

Republicans ended the debate after eight hours, over the objections of Democrats, and said the goal was to pass the bill quickly. Democrats argued that SB 4 challenges the Supreme Court's 2012 ruling, which stated that states do not have the authority to enforce immigration laws on their own. Rep. Spiller denied intent to challenge that precedent, but Democrats have expressed concerns about the bill's potential legal and constitutional implications.