A federal judge is set to assess on Thursday whether Texas can implement a new law granting broad powers to police for arresting migrants accused of entering the U.S. unlawfully.
The law also empowers local judges to order their deportation. This hearing in Austin marks the initial legal challenge to what critics deem the most significant attempt by a state to regulate immigration since the 2010 Arizona law, which the U.S. Supreme Court partially invalidated.
The Texas law is scheduled to be effective from March 5.
The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department is part of multiple legal clashes between Texas and President Joe Biden’s administration regarding the state’s authority in preventing migrants from crossing the border. U.S. District Judge David Ezra, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, will determine the outcome of this legal test, though the timing of the ruling remains uncertain.
Tensions between the Biden administration and Texas have intensified over border control measures. The Justice Department has taken legal action against Texas concerning a floating barrier in the Rio Grande and defended the right of U.S. Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire installed by the state along the border.
Republican governors nationwide have supported Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s initiatives.
The Texas National Guard’s significant presence in Eagle Pass has restricted Border Patrol access to a riverfront park, previously used for monitoring, patrols, and processing migrants who reached U.S. soil.
Under the new law, any Texas law enforcement officer can arrest individuals suspected of entering the country illegally.
Once detained, migrants can either comply with a Texas judge’s deportation order or face prosecution for misdemeanor illegal entry. Failure to leave could lead to re-arrest and felony charges.
Civil rights groups argue that Senate Bill 4, as the law is known, may result in civil rights violations and encourage racial profiling.
Republicans defend the law, asserting it would likely be enforced primarily near the U.S.-Mexico border and would not target long-settled immigrants due to a two-year statute of limitations on the misdemeanor charge.
