AUSTIN, Texas — The Biden administration is mulling legal action against Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) after civil rights organizations sued over a new law that gives state and local law enforcement the ability to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.
Blowback from Democrats and liberal organizations commenced less than 24 hours after Abbott signed SB 4, which gives non-federal police the legal authority to arrest immigrants who have illegally entered the state from a foreign nation. Immigration laws are federal, therefore, until the signing of SB 4, only federal law enforcement had the authority to make such arrests, and some already have taken legal action to quell Abbott’s latest border security action.
DECLINING SITUATION AT SOUTHERN BORDER UPS ANTE ON SENATE IMMIGRATION TALKS
Abbott signed the bill, along with two others that passed during recent special legislative sessions, Monday during a ceremony in the border city of Brownsville. SB 4 criminalizes unlawful entry to the country, while other enacted laws provide $1.5 billion for border wall construction and create a mandatory 10-year minimum prison sentence for human smugglers.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of El Paso County and two immigrant rights groups Tuesday challenging Texas.
“Governor Abbott’s efforts to circumvent the federal immigration system and deny people the right to due process is not only unconstitutional, but also dangerously prone to error, and will disproportionately harm Black and Brown people regardless of their immigration status,” said Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a statement. “We’re using every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to stop this egregious law from going into effect.”
Plaintiffs El Paso County and the immigrant rights groups sued the Texas Department of Public Safety on the basis that only the federal government has the authority to enforce immigration laws.
At the White House, the Biden administration is considering how to respond and has not ruled out taking legal action itself.
“[The] Department of Justice, they’re going to decide whether they’re going to file a lawsuit here,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “Certainly I’m not going to get ahead of that.”
Abbott and President Joe Biden have gone head-to-head both in court and on the public stage throughout the past three years, attacking each other for being too aggressive on border security and too lax, respectively.
Abbott defended the law Monday and described the policy as so extreme that it would deter immigrants from attempting to illegally enter Texas from Mexico.
“These laws will help stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas, add additional funding to build more border wall, and crack down on human smuggling,” Abbott said Monday afternoon in Brownsville.
The ACLU voiced concerns about whether Texas judges would be able to carry out the jobs of trained federal immigration judges in deportation hearings.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said the law would green-light racial profiling.
“S.B. 4 represents a recipe for racial profiling, making ethnicity a shortcut to suspicion,” Vignarajah said in a statement. “These new measures will not rebuild trust among immigrant communities that have long grappled with the specter of detention and deportation. To the contrary, they are poised to create a chilling effect, deterring immigrants from seeking necessary assistance or cooperating with law enforcement, and jeopardizing the safety and cohesion of Texan communities as a whole.”
Vignarajah called on the Biden administration to intervene and ensure the law is blocked.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) defended the state and said the new laws were in response to the burgeoning crisis at the border.
“It has never been more clear that Texas must step into the breach created by the border security liars and deniers Biden, [Vice President Kamala] Harris, and [Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro] Mayorkas, and the signing of these three bills is indicative of the Texas Senate and my commitment to stemming the flow of illegal immigration and a strong southern border,” Patrick said.
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The law is set to take effect March 5, 2024.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not respond to a request for comment.
Christian Datoc contributed to this report.
