A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Thursday to temporarily prevent one of the strictest immigration bills in the country from going into effect in Texas on March 5.
The law, known as SB 4, would authorize local and state law enforcement to arrest migrants they suspect crossed into the state illegally. It would also also give judges the power to order migrants to be transported to a port of entry and returned to Mexico regardless of their country of origin.
The ruling is expected to be appealed.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2023 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of El Paso County, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways. The lawsuit was consolidated with one filed by the Department of Justice.
U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, called into question SB 4’s constitutionality, stating in the 114-page ruling that the Supremacy Clause and previous Supreme Court rulings “affirm that states may not exercise immigration enforcement power except as authorized by the federal government.”
He also said that the law would conflict with certain aspects of federal immigration law and that it would be detrimental to the United States’ foreign relations and treaty obligations.
Two women hold up signs in opposition of Senate Bill 4 during a council meeting at City Hall, June 20, 2017, in Houston.
Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
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