UPDATE
Dec 19, 2023 2:20 PM CST
Civil rights organizations on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging a new Texas law that would allow police to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally and permit local judges to order them to leave the country. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, came less than 24 hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure. The ACLU, its Texas branch, and the Texas Civil Rights Project claim on behalf of El Paso County and two immigrant aid groups that the new law is unconstitutional and preempted by federal law, per the AP. The law is supposed to take effect in March.
Dec 19, 2023 12:00 AM CST
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday approved sweeping new powers that allow police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the US border and give local judges authority to order them to leave the country, testing the limits of how far a state can go to enforce immigration laws, the AP reports. Opponents have called the measure the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona law—denounced by critics as the "Show Me Your Papers" bill—that was largely struck down by the US Supreme Court. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and Texas' law is also likely to face swift legal challenges.
The law, which takes effect in March, allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people who are suspected of entering the country illegally. Once in custody, they could either agree to a Texas judge's order to leave the US or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don't leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges. Abbott, who signed the law in front of a section of border fence in Brownsville, predicted the number of people crossing illegally into Texas would drop by "well over 50%, maybe 75%." He did not offer evidence for that estimate. "The consequences of it are so extreme that the people being smuggled by the cartels, they will not want to be coming into the state of Texas," he said.
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Shortly after Abbott signed the new law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said it would challenge the measure in court. More than 20 congressional Democrats also signed a letter urging the US Justice Department to sue to stop the law, known as Senate Bill 4. Mexico's government also has rebuked the measure. Under bilateral and international agreements, Mexico is required to accept deportations of its own citizens, but not those of other countries. Under the Texas law, migrants ordered to leave would be sent to ports of entry along the border with Mexico, even if they are not Mexican citizens. In September and October, Venezuelans were the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the US border.
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