Fifth Circuit scrutinizes Texas immigration law
(CN) — Texas is defending a state law empowering state police to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally and allow local judges to order their deportation to Mexico.
Senate Bill 4, a measure signed by Governor Greg Abbott amid rising tensions over border security, has been on hold since a federal district judge in Austin issued a preliminary injunction in February 2024, ruling it likely violates federal supremacy over immigration. At the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans Thursday, Texas Solicitor General William R. Peterson urged a full panel of federal judges to toss out the injunction, arguing that challengers like the plaintiff immigrant advocacy groups — Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways — don’t even have the legal standing to sue. He leaned on precedents such as FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine to argue nonprofits have no standing based on indirect harms or resource diversion.
“Like Las Americas, Alliance challenged that governmental action impaired its ability to provide services and achieve its organizational mission,” Peterson said, drawing a parallel to the recent Supreme Court case on abortion pills. “The Supreme Court [said] that argument does not work.”
El Paso County joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff. Together, they argue SB4 oversteps by creating a parallel state system for immigration enforcement, potentially clashing with federal laws that govern entry, asylum and removal. Penalties under the law range from misdemeanors for first-time unauthorized entries to felonies carrying up to 20 years in prison for repeat offenses or failing to comply with removal orders.
https://www.courthousenews.com/fifth-circuit-scrutinizes-texas-immigration-law/