Overview
- The ACLU, ACLU of Texas and Texas Civil Rights Project filed a class-action in federal court in Austin on Monday seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Texas’s SB 4.
- The suit targets four provisions of SB 4: a reentry crime that can apply even after someone gains lawful status, state magistrates’ power to order removal to Mexico, a new crime for disobeying such orders, and a mandate to keep prosecutions going despite pending federal immigration cases.
- SB 4 creates state crimes for unauthorized entry and reentry and lets state police arrest suspected border crossers and local judges issue removal orders, and it is scheduled to take effect May 15 unless a court steps in.
- The new filing follows the Fifth Circuit’s late-April decision that lifted an earlier injunction on procedural standing grounds, which left the law’s constitutionality unresolved and opened the door to fresh merits challenges.
- The plaintiffs include a lawful permanent resident from Honduras and a U-visa applicant who say they fear arrest or removal under SB 4, while Texas names border security under Operation Lone Star and a self-defense rationale, and rights groups argue the Supremacy Clause reserves immigration enforcement to the federal government.