A U.S. Border Patrol agent stands on a cliff looking for migrants that crossed the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico near the city of Sasabe, Arizona, Sunday, January 23, 2022.
The back-and-forth over Texas Senate Bill 4 is just the latest in a series of border security disputes between the state and the federal government.
From the deployment of the Texas National Guard to the placement of physical barriers and talk about a crowd-funded border wall, Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration have had their share of disagreements.
"The primary responsibility for control of the borders, including along the Rio Grande, is the federal government," UNT Dallas College of Law professor Brian Owsley said. "And that would stem in part from constitutional powers regarding naturalization and the like."
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The border between Texas and Mexico stretches from Brownsville to El Paso, making it the longest land border in the lower 48 states. Jeremy Wallace, a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, said it's difficult to lump all those miles into one narrative.
"The border is huge. I don't think people understand the length of what we're talking about sometimes," he said. "Like, 1,200 miles is insane. I try to explain to people that's like talking about North Carolina and Boston (in) the same conversation."
