AUSTIN, Texas — At the Texas Policy Summit in Austin on Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated that he wouldn't stop fighting for more border security even after the controversial immigration bill, Senate Bill 4, was blocked Tuesday night.
“Even without SB 4, Texas has the legal authority to arrest people coming across the razor wire barrier on our border,” Abbott said. “We will continue to use our arrest authority and arrest people coming across the border illegally.”
SB 4 would've allowed state and local law enforcement to arrest people suspected of crossing the Texas-Mexico border at any place other than a port of entry. It also allows judges to order people back across the border.
Legal back and forth
Late Tuesday night, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order to allow an earlier injunction by a lower court that would stop SB 4 from going into effect, while the lawsuit against it plays out.
Abbott signed SB 4 into law back in December, and it was supposed to go into effect this month. But after several lawsuits from civil rights groups and the Department of Justice were filed against Texas, the law has gotten paused several times.
Those opposed to the law call it unconstitutional, believing that enforcing immigration should be a federal duty. They also say the law could lead to racial profiling.
"A concern that people of color are not going to feel safe going out into the streets, especially those who come from immigrant communities, because police are going to recognize the possibility that they could be in violation of this broad sweeping SB4 law,” Daniel Hatoum, the senior supervising attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said.
What’s going on at the border?
Abbott said even through all this, the state has not slowed down its response at the border. He said since the start of Operation Lone Star in March 2021, troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) have arrested more than 40,000 people at the border. Those arrests are largely from trespassing.
Abbott also said Texas will keep building the border wall. At the summit, Abbott praised former President Donald Trump’s border policies and pointed the increase in people entering the border illegally to President Joe Biden.
“It was just four years ago that we had the lowest illegal border crossings in 45 years, and the reason is because of the policies that President Trump put in place,” Abbott said.
Abbott also brought up the floating barriers or buoys in the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the river into Texas. These buoys remain in the Rio Grange while the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will rehear the case.
Back in December, the barriers were supposed to be removed, but Texas asked for an en banc hearing, which means the appellate courts’ judges will rehear the case. Those hearings are set for May.
What happens now?
On Wednesday morning, just hours after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked SB 4, the court heard oral arguments virtually on Zoom on whether or not to allow the law to go into effect while the lawsuit against it plays out. During the hearing, both the judge and the state had many unanswered questions about the logistics of how to carry out Senate Bill 4.
As it stands, the law is not in effect.