WASHINGTON – The US Justice Department has filed suit against the State of Texas to challenge an immigration bill recently promulgated by the latter.
The department has challenged Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) under the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and Foreign Commerce Clause. It was filed on behalf of the United States, including the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the department said the constitution assigns the federal government the authority to regulate immigration and manage the international borders and Congress has established a comprehensive framework regarding the entry and removal of noncitizens from the United States.
‘Because SB 4 is preempted by federal law and violates the U.S. Constitution, the Justice Department seeks a declaration that SB 4 is invalid and an order preliminarily and permanently enjoining the state from enforcing the law,’ it said.
The press release also quoted Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta as saying that the Texas 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,” he said.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division also said that Texas cannot disregard the United States Constitution and settled Supreme Court precedent.
As per the Department of Justice’s complaint, Texas’s law would create two new state crimes that attempt to regulate immigration, with charges ranging from a misdemeanor to a felony. and impedes the federal government’s ability to enforce entry and removal provisions of federal law and interferes with its conduct of foreign relations.
It bears mentioning that in December, the governor of Texas promulgated a law permitting state authorities to arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
Under the law, it was made possible to deport those suspected of illegally crossing the border between the United States and Mexico.
Governor Greg Abbott endorsed Senate Bill 4 and hurled allegations against President Joe Biden of doing nothing to stop what he described ‘tidal wave of illegal entry’ into Texas; the governor claimed that the legislation would cut unauthorized arrivals by 50-75 percent.
“Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself,” Abbott said and added that as a result of the legislation, illegal immigrants would not enter Texas.
Under the new law, local judges were authorised to order illegal immigrants to leave the country though a similar law in Arizona was scrapped by the US Supreme Court.
