An appellate court has ruled in favor of a 2023 Texas law that allows state police to arrest individuals they believe entered the country illegally.
Enforcement of immigration has historically been a federal action, but Texas' SB4 created a state crime allowing local authorities to take action. According to the Texas attorney general, the law allows state police to arrest undocumented migrants who have violated U.S. immigration laws and entered Texas illegally.
The law has been challenged by several groups including Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which argued that the Texas law was illegal and preempted by the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.
The lawsuit initially resulted in an injunction, temporarily blocking any enforcement of the law. The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, however, has lifted that injunction.
The court ruled 10-7 that the groups challenging SB4 had "no standing" to bring the lawsuit. Although the injunction is lifted, the court did not make any determination regarding the underlying arguments the lawsuit made.
"Because the Plaintiffs that are challenging the new statute lack standing, we vacate the preliminary injunction without addressing the merits of the preemption claim," the decision states. Standing is a legal term that means a party must be able to show that they have a connection to or are being harmed by a law or action that is being challenged, according to Cornell Law School.
"My office has secured yet another major win for Texas by defending SB 4 before the Fifth Circuit," said Texas Attorney General Paxton. "Texas's right to arrest illegals, protect our citizens, and enforce immigration law is fundamental. This is a major victory for public safety and law and order."
According to the Texas Tribune, SB4 created a state misdemeanor for people who cross the border into Texas illegally. The law was challenged by the Biden administration, but that action was dropped when President Trump took office. The nonprofits then challenged the law in a lawsuit.
The decision notes that Texas passed SB4 during a time of rampant, illegal migration.
"More than 6 million illegal aliens, from over 100 countries, flooded Texas's international border during approximately 2021–2023," the decision states. "In one year alone, about 2.5 million unlawfully crossed, well over 100,000 of whom were unaccompanied minors. And in a three-year period, Border Patrol agents arrested over 15,000 illegal aliens with criminal convictions, apprehended roughly 2,000 gang members, and encountered, at the border, 336 persons on the terrorist watchlist."
