One of the big legal battles of 2024 is taking shape. Joe Biden's administration threatened on Thursday to sue Texas over the SB4 law, one of the strictest rules against irregular immigration in the United States because it allows local authorities to arrest undocumented people and initiate deportation proceedings. The rule was signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbot on December 18th but will take effect on March 5th. The federal government argues that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and that it will take it to court if it goes into effect.
“Because SB4 is unconstitutional and will disrupt the work of the federal government, we call on Texas to refrain from enforcing it,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a letter addressed to Abbott. The document is signed by Attorney General Brian Boynton, Attorney General Merrick Garland's right-hand man. The letter, published by the CBS network, calls on Texas authorities to respond before January 3, 2024.
At the heart of the dispute is the role Texas police will play if SB4 goes into effect. The law creates new crimes for those who enter the country illegally and do not have U.S. citizenship. The new rules approved by the Republican majority in the Texas state Congress established a system that allows local judges to initiate deportation proceedings for immigrants.
Migrants cross the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras towards Eagle Pass on December 21.CHENEY ORR (Portal)
The Justice Department argues that the law grants local authorities functions that the U.S. Constitution grants to federal officials, including regulating immigration and controlling international borders. The letter cites the case of SB170, a law passed in 2010 by an ultra-conservative Arizona administration to increase immigration detention. The Obama administration fought the rule in court and suffered several legal setbacks over the years, leaving it little more than a dead letter. The conclusion of the lengthy legal case that reached the Supreme Court in 2012 highlighted the U.S. government's broad powers over immigration issues.
Boynton said the Texas rule interferes with the process federal authorities follow for immigrants. It also affects some of the rights that newcomers to the United States have, such as the right to seek asylum to avoid being returned to their country to face persecution or torture.
In the letter, the Biden administration also noted that the new law has caused unease among the Mexican government. Governor Abbott intends to send back to Mexican territory anyone who enters the United States illegally, regardless of whether they are citizens of that country or not. “SB4 also improperly regulates the movement of people across an international border and undermines the foreign relations of the United States,” the document states.
Abbott has already responded to the threat. “I have never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America,” the governor said wrote on his social networks. “The Biden administration not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, it now wants to prevent Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration.”
The politician has already implemented other controversial measures to reduce the number of immigrants in Texas. He has sent hundreds of migrants to Democratic-run cities and erected a floating buoy wall in the Rio Grande and razor wire along the border wall. The federal government has turned to the courts to stop some of these strategies.
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