Federal Court Blocks Texas Border Security Law, Abbott To Appeal

By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor

(Worthy News) – After the Fifth Circuit last month allowed Texas’ border security law, SB 4, to go into effect, another federal court has now blocked four of its provisions.

The illegal entry provision remains in effect as of May 15.

The law, which makes illegal entry into Texas a state crime, was set to go into effect Friday May 15. It gives Texas law enforcement the authority to return illegal foreign nationals to a port of entry and/or arrest them for unlawful entry, among other provisions.

After the bill was signed into law in 2023, multiple groups sued, arguing the law is unconstitutional and that illegal entry is a federal crime, not a state crime. A district court and panel of Fifth Circuit judges agreed.

The full Fifth Circuit disagreed and reversed the lower court’s ruling last month – but solely on procedural grounds, The Center Square reported. The court held the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to sue, enabling a door to remain open challenging the law on its merits.

As expected, a class action lawsuit was filed earlier this month, this time by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and the Texas Civil Rights Project, The Center Square reported. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division and names the Texas Department of Public Safety and its director as defendants.

SB 4 “is one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed by any state legislature in the country” and will “separate families and directly lead to racial profiling,” the ACLU argues.

In a 78-page ruling, Judge David Ezra granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction stating they were likely to succeed on the merits of their case.

He also blocked four provisions of the law from going into effect. They include the reentry crime and three provisions related to magistrates issuing deportation orders.

While the Fifth Circuit didn’t rule on the merits of the case, Ezra did.

He said more than “a century of Supreme Court cases hold ‘the authority to control immigration – to admit or exclude [noncitizens] – is vested solely in the Federal Government.’” He also argued Congress regulates immigration, “specifically the reentry and removal of noncitizens, the federal government has also enacted a ‘framework of regulation so pervasive that Congress left no room for the States to supplement it.’”

“SB 4’s criminalization of unlawful entry and re-entry intrudes into the federal government’s field,” he said, and SB 4 “could open the door to each state passing its own version of immigration laws. The effect would moot the uniform regulation of immigration throughout the country and force the federal government to navigate a patchwork of inconsistent regulations.”

He also said SB 4’s removal authorization “is patently unconstitutional” and at its broadest level overall SB 4 “conflicts with federal immigration law because it provides state officials the power to enforce federal law without federal supervision.”

In response, attorneys for the plaintiffs issued a joint statement, saying, “The court’s decision reaffirms what every court that has reviewed the merits of S.B. 4 and laws like it has held: Immigration enforcement is exclusively a federal issue and not up to the states. S.B. 4 would instill fear in our communities, cause widespread racial profiling, and subject lawfully present immigrants to arrest, detention, and deportation. Texas cannot override the U.S. Constitution and should stop wasting time attempting to do so.”

Each plaintiff in the class action “now represent thousands of people across the state who may be criminally prosecuted for violating the reentry provision,” the ACLU said. One plaintiff is a lawful permanent resident; another is a provisionally approved U Visa recipient who could be deported under the law, the ACLU argues.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris told The Center Square, “Governor Abbott signed SB 4 into law to protect Texas and America from President [Joe] Biden’s open border policies, the effects of which did not disappear overnight. Texas will not back down from its constitutional right to self-defense and will appeal this erroneous decision immediately.”

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