The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit to block Texas police from being able to arrest immigrants who crossed the border illegally.
“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,” said Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a news release.
The lawsuit ― which was filed by the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, American Gateways and the county of El Paso, Texas ― aims to block Texas Senate Bill 4, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed into law Monday.
That legislation allows local and state police to arrest any immigrant who they suspect has entered the U.S. illegally. If the courts don’t block the law, it’s set to go into effect in March. The law also allows Texas judges to deport the immigrants.
Immigrants rights groups have condemned the legislation, and 30 former U.S. immigration judges signed a letter earlier this month calling it unconstitutional.
“We’re using every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to stop this egregious law from going into effect,” Balakrishnan said in Tuesday’s release.
The law isn’t limited to border cities, the ACLU claims, meaning people throughout Texas are at risk of arrest and deportation. State Rep. David Spiller (R) said during a debate in the Texas House in November that the law wouldn’t be used to arrest immigrants across the state.
“This is not, ‘Round up everyone who is here illegally and ship them back to Mexico,’” Spiller said.
The lawsuit was filed against Steven McCraw, the director of Texas’ Department of Public Safety, and Bill Hicks, El Paso’s district attorney. Texas DPS told HuffPost that it “does not discuss pending litigation.” Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“President Biden has repeatedly refused to enforce federal immigration laws already on the books and do his job to secure the border,” Abbott said in a statement to HuffPost. “In his absence, Texas has the constitutional authority to secure our border through historic laws like SB 4. Texas will take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to protect Texans from President Biden’s dangerous open border policies.” (The Biden administration does not have an “open border” policy.)
Abbott has made it a top priority to keep immigrants out of Texas. Earlier this month, he signed a bill into law that grants Texas $1.5 billion to continue constructing barriers along the state’s border with Mexico. And since April 2022, he has sent thousands of immigrants by bus to various sanctuary cities elsewhere in the U.S.
“We have sued to block Senate Bill 4 because it will have a devastating impact on people seeking safety at our borders and Texans throughout the state,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, in a news release. “This law blatantly disregards people’s right to due process and will allow Texas law enforcement to funnel family, friends, and loved ones into the deportation pipeline.”
“S.B. 4 is unconstitutional,” Garza continued. “Texas does not have the power to implement its own immigration laws. We will not let this stand.”