The Justice Department is threatening to sue over Texas' new border law.
Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 in December 2023. The bill would go into effect in March 2024 and would allow state and local law enforcement to arrest, imprison, and prosecute people suspected of entering the United States illegally.
“The goal of SB4 is to stop the wave of illegal immigration into Texas,” Abbott told reporters at the signing ceremony last month.
The Justice Department claims the law is unconstitutional.
In a letter sent to Mr. Abbott last week, the Justice Department said it would sue Texas unless federal authorities are notified by Jan. 3 that the law will not go into effect.
In response, Governor Spokesperson Renae Eze said in a statement to NBC 5:
“Texas stands ready to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Texans and Americans from President Biden’s open border policies. We're left to fend for ourselves. Governor Abbott signed the Senate Bill 4 into law last week to stem the wave of illegal immigration into Texas as the president refuses to enforce federal immigration laws. did. ”
Immigration law expert Dennis Gilman thinks it's unlikely the states will succeed even with a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
The high court has previously ruled that states have limited immigration control.
“I have no choice but to believe that the Supreme Court will strike down this law,” said Gilman, co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. “We don't want every state in the country to have its own immigration policy, because immigration policy involves international relations and other concerns that need to be coordinated at the national level.”
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson plans to gather with other politicians in Eagle Pass on Wednesday for an update on the border crisis.
