(The Center Square) – As promised, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas on Wednesday over a new law that makes illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation a state crime.
After Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 4 into law last month, the DOJ notified Abbott that it would sue Texas unless Abbott “confirmed” that SB 4 would not be enforced. Abbott balked.
The governor issued a statement saying, “The Biden Administration not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration. I’ve never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America. Biden is destroying America. Texas is trying to save it.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western Division of Texas Austin Division and names Abbott, Texas Department of Public Safety and its director, Steven McCraw, as defendants.
The DOJ’s 22-page complaint argues the federal government has the “exclusive authority under federal law to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens,” which Texas’ new law violates. SB 4 “creates purported state immigration crimes for unlawful entry and unlawful reentry, permits state judges and magistrates to order the removal of noncitizens from the country, and mandates that state officials carry out those removal orders,” it argues.
It also says, “Texas cannot run its own immigration system,” as stipulated by SB 4, which “intrude[s] on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate[s] the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere[s] with U.S. foreign relations.”
The DOJ argues SB 4 is invalid and asks the court to enjoin the law to prevent it from being implemented before it’s slated to go into effect March 5.
It is the second lawsuit filed over the bill. Within 24 hours of Abbott signing it into law, El Paso County and several groups sued, arguing it’s unconstitutional. Its lawsuit was also filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division. It names McCraw and District Attorney Bill Hicks in the 34th District as defendants.
Abbott remains steadfast that Texas has the right to defend itself and will defend the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
S.B. 4’s goal is to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” Abbott said when signing the bill. The new law stipulates that repeat offenders who illegally reenter Texas can face a prison sentence of up to 20 years. It also gives law enforcement officials the authority to return illegal foreign nationals to a port of entry and/or arrest them for unlawful entry.
In response to the lawsuit, Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement: “SB 4 was created to address the endless stream of illegal immigration facilitated by the Biden administration. Millions of unvetted foreign aliens have been released into Texas due to President Biden’s policies of dismantling border security at the US-Mexico border, collaborating with cartels, and inviting violent criminals and drug traffickers to enter the country.
“Just as I am prepared to fight the lawsuit brought by the extremist ACLU and the nonprofits enriching themselves due to the federal government’s open borders doctrine, I am prepared to fight the Biden Administration whose immigration disaster is leading our country to ruin. Texas has the sovereign right to protect our state.”
When signing SB 4 into law last month, Abbott said Biden’s “deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” pointing to Article 1 Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which empowers states “to take action to defend themselves and that is exactly what Texas is doing.”
