State Sponsored Vigilantism: A Conversation with Bob Libal about Texas Legislation to Create ‘Border Protection Units’

Armed civilians who believe that undocumented migrants are ‘invaders’ could be enforcing the Texas immigration proposal, says Libal, a consultant for Human Rights Watch.

By
●
Politics
●
April 25, 2023
audio-thumbnail

State Sponsored Vigilantism: A Conversation with Bob Libal about Texas Legislation to Create ‘Border Protection Units’
0:00

/12000

Texas is once again in the throes of its biennial legislative session, which will wrap up at the end of May. One of the more dangerously authoritarian bills introduced this session is HB 20, authored by Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), which would create armed citizen militias under the control of the governor. Their mission would be to hunt down undocumented people. Bob Libal, a longtime immigration and criminal justice reform activist based in Austin, attended the bill’s hearing on April 13 at the Texas Legislature, where nearly 300 people signed up in opposition. Despite this, at least 52 Republicans in the Texas House have signed on to HB 20. Libal, now a U.S. consultant for the international nonprofit Human Rights Watch, talks about how the passage of HB 20 would set a dangerous authoritarian precedent. “They would be setting up a system where people who believe that undocumented migrants are invaders could be enforcing this Texas-specific immigration proposal—and they’d be armed,” he says.

Author
Melissa del Bosque

Melissa del Bosque is Co-founder and Executive Director of The Border Chronicle. Melissa has written about the U.S.-Mexico border since 1998 for various media outlets, including ProPublica, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Texas Observer, and The Intercept.

Her work has been recognized with numerous U.S. and international journalism awards, including a Gabo Award and the Internacional Rey de España de Periodismo award, as the U.S.-Mexico investigations editor for Lighthouse Reports. In 2020, del Bosque received the RFK Human Rights Journalism Award as part of a ProPublica group reporting project “Inside the Border Patrol.” In 2016, she received the Hillman Prize for her investigative feature “Death on Sevenmile Road” about the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2015, del Bosque’s four-part series with The Guardian on migrant deaths in South Texas won an Emmy and a National Magazine Award. 

Del Bosque is also the author of Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty. She has a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s in Public Health from the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, and a Bachelor’s in poetry and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

In her spare time, Melissa loves to travel, spend time with her family, and explore the Sonoran Desert.

Related Articles
American Rust: The $1.1 Billion Border Wall Built with Salvaged Materials and Few Answers
By
●
Border Militarization
●
September 29, 2026

A newly constructed wall built with old, salvaged material in South Texas is probably illegal; it’s also costing twice as much as previous walls. What are taxpayers paying for, exactly?

“We See No Border”: The Tohono O’odham Fight Against the Border Wall
By
●
Border Militarization
●
September 10, 2026

The irreparable harm that has already been done, says tribal chairman Verlon Jose, you can feel it, hear it, in the people.

Immigration Policy Is Maternal Health Policy
By &
●
Immigration
●
September 1, 2026

Research in Texas confirms what border communities already know: that harsh immigration policies harm maternal health. As border-style enforcement spreads across the United States, its consequences for mothers and infants will spread with it.