Justice Department Moves to Block Texas' Controversial Border Law

The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Texas over a new law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the US illegally, taking Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to court again over his escalating response to border crossers arriving from Mexico, the AP reports. In addition to allowing police anywhere in Texas to arrest migrants on charges of illegal entry, the law—known as Senate Bill 4—also gives judges the authority to order migrants to leave the country. The DoJ lawsuit asks a federal court in Austin to declare the Texas law unconstitutional. It calls the measure a violation of the Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal laws in most cases supersede state law.

"Texas cannot run its own immigration system," the Justice Department 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 US foreign relations." Posted Abbott on X: "Biden sued me today because I signed a law making it illegal for an illegal immigrant to enter or attempt to enter Texas directly from a foreign nation. I like my chances." The law is scheduled to take effect in March. Civil rights organizations and officials in El Paso County, Texas, filed a lawsuit last month that similarly described the new law as unconstitutional overreach.