Border Battle

Abbott suffers loss as court blocks new immigration law

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden may be in something of a standoff over the immigration crisis at the border between the Lone Star State and Mexico, but he’s also fighting on another front.

Where he suffered a major loss, at least for now.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Austin blocked Senate Bill 4, a new law that was to take effect Tuesday allowing Texas police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and state judges to order they be deported.

Abbott signed the bill into law in December.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled allowing the law to take effect would cause the federal government to suffer “grave irreparable harm” as it could inspire other states to pass a patchwork of laws usurping its constitutional power to solely regulate immigration.

In his ruling, Ezra acknowledged Texas’ concerns over drug trafficking and other crimes committed by illegal immigrants. And he said Texas does have the right to arrest and prosecute those charged with such crimes, no matter their immigration status.

But, he wrote, “No matter how emphatic Texas’s criticism of the Federal Governments handling of immigration on the border may be to some, disagreement with the federal government’s immigration policy does not justify a violation of the (Constitution’s) Supremacy Clause.”

Abbott, as expected, vowed to fight on and predicted the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually have to decide the fate of SB 4.

“Texas has solid legal grounds to defend against an invasion,” the governor said in a statement.

Maybe, but the Constitution is pretty clear that the federal government has authority over immigration and that federal law trumps state law. So we aren’t sure the nation’s highest court will see things Abbott’s way.

Stay tuned.