Groups sue over new Texas law that lets police arrest migrants who enter the US illegally

Civil rights organizations on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging a new Texas law that would allow police to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally and permit local judges to order them to leave the country.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Austin, came less than 24 hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the measure during a ceremony on the U.S. border in Brownsville. The law takes effect in March.

The American Civil Liberties Union, its Texas branch, and the Texas Civil Rights Project claim on behalf of El Paso County and two immigrant aid groups that the new law is unconstitutional and preempted by federal law.

The Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw and 34th Judicial District Attorney Bill Hicks, who are listed as defendants, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“The bill overrides bedrock constitutional principles and flouts federal immigration law while harming Texans, in particular Brown and Black communities,” Adriana Piñon, legal director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement.

Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. But the law that Abbott signed allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people who are suspected of entering the country illegally. Once in custody, they could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don’t leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges.

Opponents have called the measure the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona law — denounced by critics as the “Show Me Your Papers” bill — that was largely struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Texas Republicans say President Joe Biden’s administration isn’t doing enough to control the 1,950-mile (3,149-kilometer) southern border. In other efforts that have challenged the federal government’s authority on the issue, Texas has bused more than 65,000 migrants to cities across America since August 2022 and recently installed razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande, which has snagged and injured some asylum-seekers.

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