DOJ warns Abbott of possible suit over Texas’ new immigration law

The Justice Department is threatening Texas Gov. Greg Abbott with a potential lawsuit over his state’s newly minted anti-immigration law that makes it a state crime to cross into Texas from Mexico without federal authorization.

In a letter to Abbott, the Biden administration warns that Senate Bill 4, which grants local officials broad latitude to apprehend and deport people believed to have entered Texas illegally, usurps immigration enforcement authority from federal officials.

The law, which is set to take effect March 5, “is preempted and violates the United States Constitution” and “purports to create new state crimes tied to federal prohibitions on unlawful entry and reentry by noncitizens into the United States,” the letter says.

The letter also says the law creates a “separate state immigration scheme” and conflicts with federal protections for migrants who seek U.S. protection from persecution or torture.

CBS News reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez posted a copy of the letter on social media.

And so begins a legal and political quagmire for the Lone Star State.

Abbott signed S.B. 4 last week as part of Operation Lone Star, his beleaguered immigration crackdown. Texas Republicans also have pushed to allow authorities to get more physical in their handling of migrants, while employing disgusting “invasion” rhetoric. S.B. 4 closely resembles controversial legislation in Arizona known as the “show me your papers” law, which was ruled largely unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2012.

As I wrote earlier this week, the fallout over that law should have given Texas Republicans nightmares — or, at least, some pause — before approving this bill. That’s because the Arizona law precipitated civil rights abuses that snowballed into costly lawsuits against the state, as well as massive local protests and economic boycotts. And it sparked a progressive movement that Arizona Republicans still haven’t quelled.

We may see a similar situation unfold in Texas. Several activist groups already have sued to thwart S.B. 4. And if the past is prologue, that lawsuit — along with the potential suit from the Justice Department — could merely be the tip of the iceberg, as far as acts of resistance are concerned.