FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2024
Media Contact: info@txilc.org
U.S. Supreme Court extends stay on Texas’ Extreme SB 4
Legal experts weigh in on federal ruling staying Texas’ unconstitutional deportation bill
Austin, TX – Today, the United States Supreme Court extended the existing stay to halt Texas Senate Bill 4, an extreme state law–currently the only in the country–that allows local and state law enforcement to, detain, arrest, and ultimately deport people they suspect of both entering Texas between a port of entry and being found in Texas after a prior removal, even if lawfully present.
“As Texas Republican Senator Birdwell quoted George Washington in his opposition to SB 4, the unlawful modification of the constitutional powers set out in SB 4 could be the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. This pause by the Supreme Court not only preserves our constitutional principle of federalism, it also safeguards the rights and dignity of countless individuals while protecting the economic engine that has fueled our state’s growth,” said Kristin Etter, Director of Policy & Legal Services at the Texas Immigration Law Council. “SB 4 would turn all peace officers across the state into de facto ICE agents and all judges into de facto immigration judges to target immigrants–even those lawfully present–for arrest and deportation.
“Just recently, the Court faced serious questions about whether states can create a patchwork system of federal election laws. In the unanimous Trump v. Anderson opinion, the Court warned against creating a ‘chaotic state-by-state patchwork, at odds with our Nation’s federalism principles.’ Similar to the ‘patchwork’ that would likely result from state enforcement of immigration law, SB 4 would ‘sever the direct link that the Framers found so critical between the National Government and the people of the United States’ as a whole. Along the same lines as the Supreme Court said in Trump, ‘[n]othing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos.”
“State overreach cannot be tolerated in Texas. We hope the Court is thoroughly considering the chaos of this overreach and maintains the order of our national federalism by preventing SB 4 from becoming the national model for patchwork immigration laws.”
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The Texas Immigration Law Council is a statewide nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization formed in 2023 to promote and protect the rights of immigrants and refugees of all nationalities in Texas. The Council promotes meaningful access to justice for immigrants and refugees by serving as a statewide immigrant legal resource center. The Council brings together constituencies across the political spectrum to advance constructive dialogue on immigrant solutions for Texas.
