DOJ threatens to sue Texas over new immigration law

The Department of Justice is threatening to sue Texas over the state’s new border law.

Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 in December 2023. It will take effect in March 2024 and allow state and local law enforcement to arrest, jail, and prosecute people suspected of entering the U.S. illegally.

“The goal of SB4 is to stop the title wave of illegal entry into Texas,” Abbott told reporters during a signing ceremony last month.

The Justice Department calls the law unconstitutional.

In a letter sent to Abbott last week, the DOJ said it would sue Texas unless federal authorities were notified by January 3 that the law would not be enforced.

In response, the Governor’s spokesperson, Renae Eze, said in a statement to NBC 5:

"Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Texans and Americans from President Biden’s open border policies. President Biden’s deliberate and dangerous inaction at our southern border has left Texas to fend for itself. Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law last week to help stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas as the President refuses to enforce federal immigration laws.”

Immigration law expert Denise Gilman believes the state is unlikely to succeed even with a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

The high court has previously ruled that states have a limited scope regarding immigration enforcement.

“I have to believe that the Supreme Court is going to strike down this law,” said Gilman, co-director of The University of Texas School of Law Immigration Clinic. “We don’t want every state in the country to have its own immigration policies because they involve international relations and other concerns that really need to be coordinated on a national level.”

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson will join other politicians in Eagle Pass Wednesday for an update on the border crisis.