The American Civil Liberties Union sued Texas on Tuesday over its “historic” new law making illegal entry a state crime.
“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, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU.
BREAKING: We’re suing to block Texas from enforcing the most extreme anti-immigrant law in the nation.
— ACLU (@ACLU) December 19, 2023
This unconstitutional law allows Texas judges to deport people and allows police to arrest people over suspicions about immigration status.
Texas, we'll see you in court.
The federal government is responsible for immigration enforcement but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state had no choice because of President Biden’s “deliberate inaction" on the border.
“President Biden has repeatedly refused to enforce federal immigration laws already on the books and do his job to secure the border,” the governor told Politico in a statement. “In his absence, Texas has the constitutional authority to secure our border through historic laws like SB 4.”
Abbott said his administration would defend the law all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
In addition to the ACLU, the law has come under fire from Mexico’s president and The White House, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling SB 4 “an extreme law that will not and does not make the communities in Texas safer.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "this is not who we are as a country," in response to Texas Governor Greg Abbot's new immigration law. pic.twitter.com/H4Cfo5NF8a
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 20, 2023
The fight over immigration enforcement comes as more than 12,500 were encountered at the southern border on Monday, a record high, NewsNation reports.