US Judge Blocks Texas From Enforcing Immigration Bill

A U.S. federal judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing Texas from enforcing the SB4 immigration bill, which would have made it a crime to cross the Texas-Mexico border illegally.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Thursday halted the bill’s enforcement, which was set to begin March 5, while the case continues to be litigated in court. Texas is being sued by the federal government and several immigration advocacy organizations. 

Ezra said in his statement that the federal government “will suffer grave irreparable harm” if the bill took effect because it could inspire other states to pass their own immigration laws.

“SB 4 threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice,” Ezra wrote.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in December signed SB4 into law in the state’s most recent effort to stem the unprecedented flow of illegal border crossings coming through the Rio Grande from Mexico.  

After Abbott’s action, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas, and the Texas Civil Rights Project sued Texas on behalf of El Paso County. In January, the U.S. Department of Justice filed its own lawsuit with the two having since been combined.

Earlier in the month, Ezra gave indications that he would likely file an injunction when he scolded Texas lead attorney Ryan Walters saying, “A little more care, in fact maybe a lot more care, could have gone into the drafting of this statute.”

Adding that the bill could result in every state writing immigration laws for themselves which could “turn us from the United States of America to a confederation of states.”