New Texas law could reshape state authority over the US border

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A new Texas law that allows the state to effectively deport undocumented migrants could test the balance of power between the states and the federal government, challenging years of legal precedent that has reserved the power to police the border to federal authorities.

Senate Bill 4 authorizes state judges and police to order migrants back across the Rio Grande — a deportation power reserved for federal agencies like Border Protection and ICE. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in Arizona v. U.S. that the federal government’s immigration laws supersede Arizona’s efforts to regulate immigration at the state level. In that case, the Court halted a law that criminalized being unlawfully present in the United States — very similar to Texas’ Senate Bill 4.

Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday he “welcomes a Supreme Court decision that would overturn the precedent set in the Arizona case.”

“We believe this law has been crafted in a way that can and should be upheld by the courts on its own without having to overturn the Arizona case,” Abbott said. “That said, it does open up the possibility for the Supreme Court to reconsider the Arizona case.”

Abbott pointed to Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissenting opinion in the case, in which Scalia lays out a legal framework he believed would keep a state within the constitutional bounds while enforcing immigration laws.

The legality may play out in a prolonged court battle eventually — but Latin American advocacy groups are concerned about the impact now.

The League of United Latin American Citizens accused Abbott of “prioritizing political gains over the welfare of vulnerable migrant populations, particularly women and child refugees.”

“LULAC denounces in the strongest terms possible the actions in Brownsville today of Governor Greg Abbott and his supporters in the Texas Legislature,” LULAC National President Domingo Garcia said Monday. “These individuals are determined to weaponize their legislative power for political gain at the expense of human beings.”

The law goes into full effect in March.

This coverage is ongoing. Nexstar will share a full report from Brownsville Tuesday evening.

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