The Supreme Court on Monday dealt Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) a blow, temporarily barring the border state from implementing a new state law that would allow non-federal police to arrest illegal immigrants, a power that has long been only available to federal police.
The highest court put Texas law S.B. 4 on hold for the moment in a case brought by the Justice Department and civil rights organizations that were concerned the law could lead to racial profiling and violate the Constitution.
Prior to Monday, an appeals court had given the green light for the law to take effect this month.
The Supreme Court’s order has put the brakes on the lower court decision. The nine justices will have until March 13 to make a final decision on the matter.
The Texas law was passed during a special legislative session last year. S.B. 4 created a new crime, a misdemeanor, for any person caught illegally crossing the border and a second-degree felony for someone caught illegally entering the country a second time or any time thereafter.
The two offenses include penalties of six months to 20 years in prison.
A non-federal judge would also have the authority to determine if an illegal immigrant arrested by the state should be removed from the United States, a power that has only been available to immigration judges at the Justice Department.
Last year, the state legislature passed two bills, each known as S.B. 4. The first was passed during the body’s third special legislative session and took effect this week. It increased the punishment for smuggling immigrants or operating a stash house from a two-year minimum to 10 years.
The second S.B. 4 was signed into law in December 2023 and allows state police to arrest people on immigration charges, an authority that until now was only available to federal police because immigration violations are dictated by federal law, not state law.
This second S.B. 4 was slated to take effect in March, but the Biden Justice Department sued in early January, delaying its start.
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Simon Hankinson, an immigration analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation nonprofit organization in Washington, told the Washington Examiner in February that the looming implementation of Texas’s laws “certainly” could be driving smugglers to move immigrants across into other states for fear immigrants who have paid thousands to get into the U.S. or the smugglers themselves would be jailed by Texas if caught.
“Smugglers and immigrants, illegal immigrants, are well aware of the domestic politics. And if they think there’s a decent chance that they’re going to be arrested or hassled crossing into Texas, then sure, why not go to Arizona or California, where you’ve got governors who are less enforcement-minded, and then you can get in?” Hankinson said.
