The conservative majority in the United States Supreme Court lifted the emergency blockade of the Texas anti-immigrant law on Tuesday. This allows the entry into force of the rule, known as SB4, signed in December by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. The law establishes new punishments, of up to 20 years in prison, for those who enter the State irregularly. It also allows local law enforcement agencies to request papers from anyone suspected of entering the country illegally. The most controversial aspect of the law, considered unconstitutional by some jurists, supports a state system of deportation of people, an exclusive power of the federal government. SB4 will govern while a parallel trial on its constitutionality is carried out.
“This is clearly a positive development,” said Governor Abbott, who carries out a crusade against irregular immigration that reaches his State. The Republican president has warned that the pending trial that exists in the Fifth Federal Circuit of Appeals must still be resolved. This must listen to the arguments of both parties and then issue a ruling. The Biden Administration sued the Government of Texas, considering that SB4 “alters the status quo that has existed between the United States and the States in the context of immigration for almost 150 years.” Either side can appeal to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeals ruling.
At the moment, security forces can request papers from anyone practically anywhere except schools, churches, hospitals and health centers. The review of immigration documents will not be exclusive to border counties, but the law can be implemented in cities far from the border with Mexico.
The conservative majority of the Supreme Court, created during the Donald Trump Administration, allowed the measure to come into force in a 6-3 vote. The judges of the progressive minority have written a dissenting opinion rejecting the majority's decision. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the only Latina on the High Court, has considered that the Texas legislation “puts an end to the balance of power that has existed for more than a century between the federation and the States.” Sotomayor also believes that her colleagues' decision will cause more disorder on the border, an area that recorded record numbers of immigrant apprehensions in 2023.
In another opinion, conservative judges Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh assure that their vote with the majority does not mean that they agree with the substance of SB4. The togados affirm that this is a matter of procedure and that it is “premature” to enter into the matter. They will do so once the Fifth Court of Appeals issues its ruling on the rule.
The Government of Texas argued that the rule is a product of the inaction of the Joe Biden Government on the border. The legislation passed without difficulty through the local Congress, in the hands of the Republican party. The authorities assure that this will be an instrument that will help them control an “invasion” on the border.” Abbott and his Administration have managed to gather various support from Republican leaders, who have been very critical of the Democratic president's immigration management. This Tuesday's decision was celebrated by the Texas prosecutor, Ken Paxto, who declared it “an enormous triumph” in the defense of the sovereignty of the State.
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The long judicial path of this rule began at the end of February, when a federal district judge blocked it by calling it unconstitutional. “Allowing Texas to supersede federal legislation based on invasion would mean nullifying federal law and authority, a notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War,” David Ezra wrote in his argument, 114 pages.
The magistrate, like other critics of SB4, consider that the law has several similarities with SB1070, a rule approved in 2010 by the Government of Arizona. This allowed local security forces to ask for papers from almost anyone suspected of having entered the country illegally. SB1070 was in court for two years. In June 2012, the Supreme Court invalidated several aspects and left others standing. Among what was ruled was that only the federal government has the power to dictate laws against illegal immigration.
Human rights organizations have harshly criticized SB4, which should have gone into effect on March 5. “Implementing this law will lead to racial profiling, separating families and harming black and Latino communities throughout the State,” says the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy center. Jennifer Babaie, the group's director, has promised to continue the legal battle so that everyone, regardless of their immigration status, “has the freedom to move around the country to get ahead.”
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