Texas’ efforts to secure the Southern border were dealt a blow Thursday when a federal judge blocked a new law allowing state police to arrest illegal migrants from going into effect.
The new law would give powers to state lawmen, including police and the Texas Department of Public Safety, to arrest anyone suspected of entering the country illegally and effectively give them a choice of prison or voluntarily leaving the country.
The law was introduced by Gov. Greg Abbott amidst the current migrant crisis which has engulfed the country.
It was set to go into effect in March but an injunction was granted by a judge following lawsuits by the Department of Justice and civil rights groups challenging the measure, arguing border matters fall under federal jurisdiction.
The judge, David A. Ezra, agreed and in his ruling said the law interferes with the federal government’s powers under the US Constitution to enforce immigration laws and the ability of migrants to apply for asylum “to the detriment of the United States’ foreign relations and treaty obligations.”
Abbott immediately fought back and said he would appeal the ruling.
“Texas has the constitutional right to defend itself because of President Biden’s ongoing failure to fulfill his duty,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, wrote on X.
“We will not back down in our fight to protect Texas. This case will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Abbott, who signed the measure, known as SB4 into law in December, further argued Biden has failed in his constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting states, including those “that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants.”
That point was brought sharply into focus over the last week when it emerged a Venezuelan migrant accused of murdering jogger Laken Riley, 22, on February 22 had illegally entered the US in September 2022 at El Paso, Texas.
Jose Ibarra had not been properly detained and evaluated by Border Patrol due to overcrowding, and instead given asylum papers and let into the country, federal law Enforcement sources told The Post.
The SB4 law would make entering the US illegally a state crime, and carry a prison sentences of up to 20 years.
The battle over the law has escalated an already bitter feud between Texas and the Biden Administration over the border.
Abbott has taken matters into his own hands by sending busloads of migrants to Democrat-controlled cities, installing a floating barrier in the Rio Grande and stretching razor wire across the US-Mexico border.
Texas authorities have also taken over control of barred Border Patrol agents from Shelby Park in Eagle Pass. The park ends at the Rio Grande river which serves as the border between the US and Mexico and had been used by migrants as an easy way onto US soil.
The park, which is city owned land has since been fortified with shipping crates, razor wire, and regular patrols stopping people from entering illegally.
Since the Texas Department of Public Safety seized control of that area, the number of illegal border crossings has dramatically decreased from anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 a day, to an average of just 10 a day, Abbott boasted earlier this month.
“It shows that deterrents can achieve results at decreasing illegal immigration,” he added.
Last month, the DOJ, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued to block SB4.
Ezra, a senior US District Judge in Texas, firmly sided with the plaintiffs, citing a 2012 US Supreme Court ruling that struck down key portions of a 2010 Arizona immigration measure dubbed by its critics the “Show Me Your Papers” bill.
Allowing Texas to “permanently supersede federal directives” would “amount to nullification of federal law and authority — a notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War,” Ezra wrote.
The judge also rejected Texas’ claim that the growing number of migrants amounts to an “invasion.”
“Even accepting that some small number of immigrants do traffic drugs or have cartel affiliations, Texas cannot genuinely maintain that noncitizens crossing the border are an organized military force aimed at conquest or plunder,” Ezra’s ruling read.
The DOJ has not commented on Thursday’s ruling — but the ACLU applauded it as a “victory.”
“This is a victory for our immigration rights,” the nonprofit group crowed on X.
Meanwhile, the crisis on the southern border has shown no sign of abating, with the Border Patrol reporting more than 890,000 apprehensions of suspected illegal migrants between October 2023 and February.
An additional 120,000 people were able to successfully sneak into the US during the same time period, border Patrol Chief Jason Owens wrote on X on Wednesday.
With Post wires
