Texas Scorecard by Brandon Waltens | January 4, 2024
https://texasscorecard.com/federal/feds-sue-texas-over-latest-border-security-effort/Gov. Greg Abbott has maintained that the new state law will uphold legal scrutiny in the courts. As expected, the Biden administration has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a new border security effort in Texas, calling the law “unconstitutional.”
Passed during the fourth special session last year, Senate Bill 4 creates a new state crime for entering the country illegally, empowering law enforcement to arrest illegal crossers.
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta says the law is “clearly unconstitutional.”
“Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress. The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its responsibility to uphold the Constitution and enforce federal law,” said Gupta.
Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, has maintained that the effort will uphold scrutiny in the courts.
“The authors of the United States Constitution foresaw a situation when the federal government would be inattentive to states that faced charges at their borders,” Abbott said during the bill’s signing last month. “And in response, they inserted Article One Section 10 to the United States Constitution, to empower states to take action to defend themselves. And that is exactly what Texas is doing.”
After the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, Abbott said he liked his chances.
Greg Abbott
@GregAbbott_TX
Biden sued me today because I signed a law making it illegal for an illegal immigrant to enter or attempt to enter Texas directly from a foreign nation.
I like my chances.
Texas is the only government in America trying to stop illegal immigration.
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1742728486299521415
