The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas on Wednesday over its new law making illegal immigration a state crime.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state was left to “fend for itself” due to President Biden’s “deliberate inaction” on border security.
“The goal of Senate Bill 4 is to stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas,” Abbott said last month during a signing ceremony. “It creates a criminal offense for illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation for repeat offenders, that creates the events of illegal reentry with a potential prison sentence term of up to 20 years.”
He added, “The bill provides a mechanism to order an illegal immigrant to return to the foreign nation from which they entered."
DOJ alleges the law is unconstitutional, however.
“Texas cannot run its own immigration system,” DOJ states in the lawsuit. “Its efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations.”
In response to the threat of a DOJ lawsuit last week, Abbott said he's "never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America."
The Biden Admin. not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 28, 2023
I’ve never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America.
Biden is destroying America.
Texas is trying to save it. https://t.co/CrvkBaiH8E