Border, Election Security Top Texas GOP Legislative Priority List

Texas Republicans want to see the creation of a Texas Department of Homeland Security to prevent illegal entry and conduct deportations.

Illegal immigrants wait in the Rio Grande for an opening in the razor wire barrier, to cross into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 25, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The Texas GOP named border enforcement as its top legislative priority and called on Texas to defy the federal government if necessary to protect Texans.

Texas Republicans announced their top eight priorities on June 7, following their May convention, which is held every two years to shape the party’s platform. Delegates approved a total of seven resolutions and 252 planks, which passed with an average vote of 95 percent, according to a Texas GOP statement.

Securing elections was ranked second behind the border. Stopping the sexualization of children rounded out the top three priorities.

Other priorities included having no Democratic chair appointments; banning taxpayer-funded lobbying; securing the electric grid; banning the sale of property to China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and their proxies; and ending federal overreach such as mandatory kill switches in vehicles and infringements on medical freedom regarding vaccines.

The legislative priorities are for the 89th Legislative session, beginning in January 2025.

Border enforcement was the main issue, which was also reflected in resolutions passed by convention delegates. Some 7,400 were registered to attend the event.

Republicans passed a resolution for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, state law enforcement, and the state judiciary to enforce Senate Bill 4 “without paying heed to any stays or opinions of the federal judiciary or other branch of federal government to the contrary.”

SB 4 was scheduled to go into effect on March 5 but was put on hold after the Biden administration and nonprofit organizations sued.

Illegal immigrants who enter Texas outside legal ports of entry can be arrested on Class B misdemeanor charges and sentenced to up to six months in jail under SB 4. However, repeat offenders could face second-degree felony charges and sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court briefly allowed the law to go into effect after sending it back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The appeals court then halted enforcement while it considered the latest appeal.

The GOP wants legislation in 2025 on border enforcement that would include prohibiting “individuals, corporations, nonprofits, governments, and social media entities from assisting or inciting illegal entry,” with penalties of fines and jail time.

State GOP members want businesses to use the E-Verify system to verify employees’ work status eligibility and pay fines if they don’t. Both the Senate and the House introduced similar legislation to compel the use of E-Verify in 2023, but they stalled without a full vote.

Illegal immigrants would no longer have access to subsidized public services, such as in-state college tuition and enrollment in public schools, which critics say has cost states millions of taxpayer dollars.

Texas Republicans also want to see the creation of a Texas Department of Homeland Security to prevent illegal entry and conduct deportations.

Republicans passed another resolution calling for the legislation to require proof of citizenship for new voter registrations and a review of existing voter rolls to identify and remove noncitizens.

Yet a third resolution involving border security called on Congress to stop sending money to Ukraine and allocate those resources to deport illegal aliens and secure the U.S. southern border.

Top Priorities

The Texas GOP has focused on election security since the 2020 presidential election. Many Republican-dominated states began passing legislation to update voter rolls and limit or eliminate mail-in voting and require voter ID.

On election security, grassroots Republicans are calling for paper ballots, among other measures. They want to see hand-marked, sequentially numbered paper ballots on anti-counterfeiting paper that are signed on the back by the election official at the voting location. In 2021, Texas banned 24-hour polling places, drive-through voting, and the mailing out of unsolicited applications for mail-in ballots. The state is currently ranked 12th on the Heritage Foundation’s election integrity scorecard.

A woman casts her ballot in the 2020 general election inside the Basset Place Mall in El Paso, Texas, on Nov. 3, 2020. Justin Hamel/AFP via Getty Images

Lawmakers have passed laws to remove sexually explicit books from school libraries and criminalize sexually explicit shows in front of children. The GOP wants to further that cause in 2025 to include banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender ideology in schools and libraries.

Banning the appointment of Democratic chairs was a previous GOP legislative priority. Republican Speaker Dade Phelan angered many grassroots Republicans who showed up wearing red shirts saying “Ban Democratic Chairs” in 2023. Mr. Phelan was voted in as speaker with the help of Democrats in the House and continued to appoint opposing party chairs, who have the power to decide which issues make it onto the floor for a vote.

Last year’s efforts to pass legislation to ban the sale of property to China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea were defeated after a campaign against it began on the WeChat app controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Federal Overreach

Federal overreach has been an ongoing theme with Texas lawmakers and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has filed dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration in recent years on issues including gun rights, free speech and censorship, environmental rulings by the Environmental Protection Agency to cut emissions from power plants, and the administration’s move to ban gas stoves.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 23, 2024. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Absent in this year’s priorities was school choice, which was part of the parental rights priority legislation in 2022 for the 2023 legislative session.

However, the issue is still expected to be front and center in 2025.

Mr. Abbott spent a sizable amount of political capital supporting primary opponents of Republicans who voted against school choice in 2023.

Republicans held an 84–66 majority in the state House of Representatives, but the school choice bill died after some Republicans joined with Democrats to vote against it.

This year, a total of 15 House Republicans have lost to challengers either in primaries in March or in the runoffs, which Mr. Abbott has said is enough to pass school choice in 2025.