Topline
Texas lawmakers were criticized for challenging a decade-old Supreme Court decision after passing SB 4 on Tuesday, an immigration bill making it legal for state officials to arrest suspected illegal immigrants with probable cause.
Key Facts
Several Texas state officials, like Democratic Texas State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, have called SB 4 “unconstitutional” under the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Arizona v. U.S., which says state officials don’t have the authority to arrest someone solely based on their immigration status, leaving the responsibility entirely to the federal government.
Democratic State Rep. Victoria Neave Cirado said SB 4 is the “most invasive piece of legislation” to challenge federal and state power, and called the bill a “loophole” to undermine Arizona v. U.S.
SB 4 also allows state judges to order migrants to return to Mexico instead of pursuing prosecution.
It’s a misdemeanor under SB 4 to cross the border from Mexico to Texas illegally—with a maximum sentence of a year in prison—but if an undocumented migrant is charged with other crimes or doesn’t comply with a judge’s orders, the charge is boosted to a felony, with a maximum sentence of 20 years.
The Republican-controlled Texas State Senate passed the bill on Nov. 9, so it’s waiting on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to sign it into law.
The ACLU of Texas called the bill one of the most “radical anti-immigrant laws ever” in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, and threatened to sue if Abbott signed it into law.
Chief Critics
“Senate Bill 4 … overrides federal immigration law, fuels racial profiling and harassment, and gives state officials the unconstitutional ability to deport people without due process, regardless of whether they are eligible to seek asylum or other humanitarian protections,” Oni K. Blair, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. A group of former immigration judges said in a statement last week the bill was “not lawful,” and will “[undoubtedly] lead to lawful permanent residents and United States citizens being deprived of their rights as well.” Barbara Hines, former director of the University of Texas at Austin’s immigration law clinic, told the Texas Observer the law was a “frontal assault on our immigration laws.”
Contra
Republican State Rep. David Spiller Jackson, a sponsor of SB 4, said the bill is designed to “stop the flow of illegal immigration,” not to prevent legal migrants from seeking asylum. He also claims SB 4 is constitutional because it’s “not in conflict” with Arizona v. U.S. Abbott said he felt good about the bill, which shows Texas is doing more than any other states to “address Joe Biden’s open border policies.”
Big Number
188,779. That’s how many unauthorized border crossings along the southwest border were recorded in October, according to a Customs and Border Protection report released Tuesday. That is down 14% from September.
Key Background
Arizona’s immigration law, dubbed the “show me your papers” law, allowed local police to demand to see documentation proving a person lived in the U.S. legally, and arrest suspected undocumented migrants without a warrant. The law also made it a crime if migrants failed to carry documentation, and made it illegal for those who are undocumented to work without authorization. The Supreme Court only upheld police officers’ ability to ask for documentation and struck down everything else, ruling the federal government has “broad, undoubted power over immigration and alien status.”
Tangent
SB 3, another controversial immigration bill, was amended by the Texas House of Representatives and sent back to the state Senate for approval Tuesday. SB 3 allocates over $1.5 billion in funds for barrier construction on the state’s southern border, and for state troopers to patrol a housing development near Houston, which some conservatives claim is an illegal immigrant “magnet.” The amendment the state House adopted allows some of the money from SB 3 to help local police enforce the new rules proposed in SB 4. Some of the border barriers that may be built using the money from SB 3 include fences, walls, floating buoys and concertina wire. Border agents were ordered by a Texas federal judge to stop cutting the concertina wire at the Texas border, which has caused multiple injuries among migrants, after Texas sued the Biden administration in October. Texas was ordered by a federal judge in September to remove its 1,000-foot floating barrier after a dead body was found stuck in the barrier a month prior.
Texas Sues Biden Administration For Cutting Wire Barriers Along U.S.-Mexico Border (Forbes)
Texas Ordered To Remove Rio Grande Buoy Border Barrier By Federal Judge (Forbes)
Laredo officials react to SB4 proposing to criminalize illegal crossing (Laredo Morning Times)
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