AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas’ novel new border security law will face its first legal test in federal court Thursday, challenged by the Department of Justice and civil rights groups who argue the law is “plainly unconstitutional and anti-immigrant.”
Senate Bill 4 would empower state and local law enforcement to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and order them back across the border. The law creates a new state crime for crossing into Texas outside of a port of entry, punishable as a Class B misdemeanor. Repeat offenders could face a state jail felony, and state magistrate judges may order them to return to Mexico.
Immigrant advocates and border residents protested the law outside the Governor’s Mansion on Wednesday.
“How is Texas going to protect us in light of these laws? I don’t have trust, I don’t have faith that this system will actually protect people,” Marisa Limon Garza, the executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, said. “How are you going to ensure that your law enforcement officers are going to have probable cause and will be able to make a determination about whether someone entered into Texas from Mexico at an official port of entry?”
Civil rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project argue the law will exacerbate racial profiling and could improperly detain legal residents. The bill’s author dismisses those concerns.
“I just don’t buy the premise that that’s a systemic problem throughout our law enforcement community. It’s just not true,” State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said. “I’m not telling you that there’s not going to be people that are inquired of their (immigration) status. But it’s going to be premised upon some legitimate reason for stopping. They’re not looking for reasons to stop people.”
Perry argues the law is appropriate and necessary to protect Texans from an “invasion,” citing the threats of drug cartels and human traffickers.
“We’ll have to address what happens when the federal government does not do its job, according to the Constitution. And clearly, the constitution grants the state the ability to defend itself,” he said.
Arguments are set to begin Thursday morning in the U.S. Western District of Texas in downtown Austin.