Senator Cesar Blanco recently voiced his opposition to Senate Bill 3, an effort by the Texas Legislature to make border crossings a criminal offense. He believes it would be a costly and ineffective solution and that immigration is an issue for the federal government, not the State of Texas.

"Our border communities are grappling with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that demands a humanitarian response. Senate Bill 3 is a 3rd-century solution to a 21st-century problem. It's costly and ineffective. Border security is a federal problem. We need to stop criminalizing and dehumanizing immigrants. That attitude is extremely dangerous to our border communities and has extreme consequences, as we witnessed on August 3rd, 2019," said Cesar Blanco. "Senate Bill 4 not only circumvents federal immigration and asylum regulations but also introduces new avenues for the criminalization of immigrants and asylum seekers."  

On Nov. 9, 2023, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 4 (Senator Charles Perry), a bill relating to prohibitions on the illegal entry into or illegal presence in this state by a person who is an alien.

After passage in the Senate, the bill was sent to the House Calendars committee to be placed on the General State Calendar.

On Nov. 14, 2023, the House of Representatives convened to take up both Senate Bill 3 and Senate Bill 4 according to a social media post by reporter Brad Johnson on X, formerly Twitter.

Senate Bill 3 (Senator Joan Huffman) would appropriate $1.5 billion for border barriers and $40 million for the Texas Department of Public Safety to fund overtime pay for state border agents.

Senate Bill 4 passed the House of Representatives on a party-line vote and will now head to Governor's desk to be signed into law, according to Johnson.