Supreme Court Allows Texas Immigration Enforcement Law to Go Into Effect
It has been a busy immigration day at the Supreme Court, with an important decision affecting review of cancellation of removal orders. Here is the latest.
Human Rights Watch has a critical comment on the Court’s action allowing the new Texas immigration enforcement law (SB 4) to go into effect:“US: Supreme Court Opens Door to Chaos, Abuse in TexasAllows Law Letting Police Deport Migrants to Stand, For Now(Austin, March 19, 2024) – The US Supreme Court ruling on March 19, 2024, that allows Texas state police to arrest and deport people Texas officials claim have entered the US illegally while federal courts consider the constitutionality of these powers puts people fearing persecution into immediate danger, Human Rights Watch said today.It also gives disproportionate and overreaching immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement officers. The ruling allows the law to go into effect while the court challenge proceeds through the federal courts.. . . SB 4, the Texas law the Supreme Court will be reviewing, allows state and local police to arrest migrants entering Texas between official border crossings and charge them with either improper entry, punishable up to 1 year in prison, or improper re-entry, punishable by 2 to 20 years. The law allows the state to order the removal of migrants in lieu of a criminal penalty, even if they have a claim to asylum due to fears of persecution or other serious harm if deported.The return of asylum seekers to a place where they fear persecution or other serious harm violates US federal law as well as US obligations under international human rights and refugee law, Human Rights Watch said.The new law applies throughout Texas and is likely to increase racial profiling, clog state courts, and fill jails. It is also likely to distract police from other public safety work by requiring them to instead focus on arresting and prosecuting people seeking to rejoin family, find protection, or make a better life. Civil rights groups and the US federal government have challenged the measure on constitutional grounds.….[A series of immigration] laws build on Governor Greg Abbott’s high-profile busing of migrants to cities with Democratic leadership, as well as his Operation Lone Star. This discriminatory and abusive operation targets perceived migrants and others for arrest, prosecution, and incarceration on state misdemeanor and felony offenses, as well as building walls, “buoy barriers,” and concertina wire along the border.”’.While there is no evidence Operation Lone Star has slowed migration, the program has led to injuries and deaths, consistently violated the rights of migrants and US citizens, and included attacks on freedoms of association and expression of groups providing basic aid in Texas, Human Rights Watch said.Dangerous chases of vehicles thought to contain migrants under Operation Lone Star have led to crashes that killed at least 74 people and injured at least another 189 in a 29-month period, according to a Human Rights Watch report in November. The dead and injured included migrants and US citizens, including many bystanders.Operation Lone Star has most likely strengthened illicit actors who profit from the heightened fears of migrants and blocked or impeded opportunities for people to request asylum in the United States, which is their right under US law. Criminal cartels’ profits increase when migrants attempt to enter the US by traveling through remote and deadly terrain.”
UPDATE (March 20): Late yesterday (and here), the U,S, Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit again blocked S.B. 4 from being enforced for now. Later today, the Fifth Circuit will hear arguments in the case to determine if the law should remain on hold until the court rules on SB4’s legality.
Steve Vladeck summarizes the complex litigation history of the challenges to SB 4.
Julian Aguilar from the NPR network’s Texas Newsroom tells Up First that local law enforcement officials say they will comply with the law when it goes into effect, but many note they don’t have a lot of guidance for how to enforce it. Civil and immigrant rights advocates are concerned that S.P. 4 would lead to racial profiling. Mexico says it won’t accept migrants who have been deported under this law, and it will file a debrief that highlights the challenges it presents to the U.S.-Mexico relationship.
KJ