AUSTIN – Yesterday evening, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Texas’ motion to stay an injunction stopping the state from enforcing an immigration law. A hearing on the matter is set for next month.
Senate Bill 4 enables Texas law enforcement to detain those who cross the border illegally and for judges to order them to return to the country from where they entered.
By design, SB 4 was crafted to not conflict with federal law. However, the federal government doesn’t exactly see it that way.
On March 19, the U.S. Supreme Court denied emergency motions filed by the Biden Administration seeking to block enforcement of SB 4.
Later that night, the Fifth Circuit stepped in and blocked the bill. Arguments were heard the next day and the opinion was issued a week later – effectively hitting pause while justices consider the bill’s legality.
“For nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has held that the power to control immigration – the entry, admission, and removal of noncitizens – is exclusively a federal power,” the opinion states.
“Despite this fundamental axiom, S.B. 4 creates separate, distinct state criminal offenses and related procedures regarding unauthorized entry of noncitizens into Texas from outside the country and their removal.”
Opponents of SB 4 maintain that the bill gives local and state enforcement officials in Texas unchecked power, leading to the detention of anyone they suspect of being in the U.S. without legal status, and without due process.
Following the opinion, Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee issued a statement stating that the bill disregards the federal government's jurisdiction over immigration laws.
“Our communities should not have to live in a state of fear and confusion, which is exactly what SB4 was designed to do,” Menefee said. “While this back-and-forth can create a sense of uncertainty for the people who live here, this ruling makes me hopeful that the Fifth Circuit will follow clear Supreme Court precedent and rule against the law when it considers the merits.”
Justice Andrew S. Oldham dissented from the majority, opining that he would grant the stay.
“The plaintiffs in this case won a facial, pre-enforcement injunction against Texas’s Senate Bill 4,” the opinion states. “That injunction prevents enforcement of any part of S.B. 4 against anyone at any time and under any circumstances forever. To defend that global injunction, and to take from Texas its sovereign prerogative to enact a law that its people and its leaders want, plaintiffs must show that S.B. 4 is unconstitutional in every one of its potential applications.
“Plaintiffs likely cannot make that showing.”
A hearing has been slated for April 3. Texas, however, could also appeal to the Supreme Court.
Case No. 24-50149