In the first of what could be many legal challenges, three civil rights organizations sued Texas law enforcement officials Tuesday in a bid to block a new law that lets state and local police arrest immigrants suspected of crossing the border illegally.
Signed into law Monday by Gov. Greg Abbott, Senate Bill 4 is designed to give Texas immigration enforcement powers previously reserved for the federal government. Critics also worry it will lead to a rise in racial profiling and deprive people of due process. Under the new law, state judges can deport those found guilty of illegal entry or charge them with a class B misdemeanor.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and the Texas Civil Rights Project sued the Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw and District Attorney for Texas’ 34th District Bill Hicks in Austin federal court, arguing that SB 4 violates the U.S. Constitution.
“Gov. 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,” senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights Project Anand Balakrishnan said in a statement.
“We’re using every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to stop this egregious law from going into effect,” Balakrishnan said.
Specifically, the lawsuit maintains that SB 4 violates the U.S. Conditions Supremacy Clause, which states that federal law — which applies to immigration enforcement — takes precedence over state laws and constitutions.
“Time and time again, elected officials in Texas have ignored their constituents and opted for white supremacist rhetoric and mass incarceration instead,” legal director of the ACLU in Texas Adriana Piñon said in a statement. “The state wastes billions of taxpayer dollars on failed border policies and policing that we could spend on education, better infrastructure, and better health care.”
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ACLU, others sue Texas over new law allowing it to arrest migrants
Signed into law Monday, Senate Bill 4 allows state and local authorities to arrest those who could be in the country illegally.
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