Texas Police Can Arrest People Suspected of Entering Country Illegally, Federal Court Rules

A 2023 Texas law that lets state police arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally can go into effect after a federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court ruling that had stopped it for years.

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the temporary injunction without weighing in on the underlying legal questions because the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue, according to the court’s order. The Legislature passed the law, known as Senate Bill 4, in response to record illegal border crossings that the state said amounted to an invasion, and that have since subsided.

Immigration law has historically been enforced solely by the federal government. Texas lawmakers sought to challenge that precedent with the law, which quickly drew constitutional challenges from immigrants’ and civil rights groups who argued the policing of immigration is under the federal government’s purview alone.

On Friday, the appeals court ruled, in a 10-7 decision, that plaintiffs Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, American Gateways and El Paso County could not pursue a lawsuit.

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SB 4 creates a state misdemeanor for illegally crossing the border into Texas and lets authorities arrest people suspected of having violated it. The law also requires state magistrate judges to order people arrested for illegal entry to leave the country for Mexico in lieu of prosecution or if they are convicted.

The Biden administration challenged the law, arguing it was unconstitutional, but the Trump administration dropped the Department of Justice’s participation in the lawsuit.

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