MCALLEN, TEXAS - U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is urging the Department of Justice to intervene and prevent Texas Senate Bill 4 from being implemented.
The McAllen Democrat is one of 21 members of Congress to have co-signed a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on the subject.
SB 4, along with two other pieces of legislation related to the border, was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott alongside a section of border wall Brownsville on Dec. 18. All three bills were passed during recent special sessions of the legislature.
“SB 4 is an unlawful attempt to engage in federal immigration enforcement. This law will also interfere with federal efforts to create a safe, humane, and orderly system at the border,” Gonzalez said.
“This law will impede the constitutional rights and civil liberties of those in Texas. In light of these concerns, we urge the Department of Justice to step in immediately to intervene and prevent this harmful piece of legislation from being implemented.”
Gonzalez’s letter, which was coordinated by Congressman Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, is posted at the end of this story.
Abbott said the news laws will bolster Texas’ border security efforts and crackdown on human smuggling, deter the flow of undocumented border crossings, and protect the lives and property of Texans by funding the ongoing construction of Texas’ border wall.
“Four years ago, the United States had the fewest illegal border crossings in decades,” Abbott said. “It was because of four policies put in place by the Trump Administration that led to such a low number of illegal crossings. President Biden has eliminated all of those policies and done nothing to halt illegal immigration. President Biden’s deliberate inaction has left Texas to fend for itself. Today, I will sign three laws to better protect Texas—and America—from President Biden’s border neglect. These laws will help stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas, add additional funding to build more border wall, and crackdown on human smuggling.”
On the Governor’s official website, Abbott provided a description of the three pieces of legislation he signed into law in Brownsville:
Senate Bill 4 from Special Session #3 (Flores/Guillen) creates a mandatory ten-year minimum prison sentence for smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons. Passed with bipartisan support, the law enhances the criminal penalties for the operation of a stash house and creates a mandatory five-year minimum prison sentence. It also further enhances criminal penalties for victim-related offenses that occurred during the commission of smuggling, such as assault and burglary.
Senate Bill 3 from Special Session #4 (Huffman/Jetton) appropriates $1.54 billion in general revenue to the Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor for border security operations and the construction, operation, and maintenance of border barrier infrastructure.
“Senate Bill 4 from Special Session #4 (Perry/Spiller) creates a criminal offense for illegal entry into this state from a foreign nation. The law cracks down on repeated attempts to enter Texas by creating the offense of illegal reentry and penalizes offenders with up to 20 years in prison. It also provides the mechanism to order an offender to return to the foreign nation from which the person entered or attempted to enter this state. The law provides civil immunity and indemnification for local and state government officials, employees, and contractors for lawsuits resulting from the enforcement of these provisions.”
The Texas Civil Rights Project said SB 4 and SB 3 are “two of the most dangerous pieces of border legislation the Texas Legislature has ever considered.” The group said the bills threaten to further “a race to the bottom” for new anti-immigrant laws nationwide.
According to TCRP, SB 4 authorizes law enforcement officers to detain individuals suspected of having crossed into the State unlawfully, and further authorizes State judges to order the individuals transport to a port of entry and removal from the State.
“The bill creates an improper entry charge, making entering Texas between ports of entry a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail, and an illegal entry charge for anyone who has ever been deported from the United States, as a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year in State prison. Refusal to comply with a removal order is punishable by up to 20 years.
“This law is in direct defiance of long, settled precedent decided by the Supreme Court case Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, which says states do not have the authority to create and implement immigration policy.”
TCRP says SB 3 provides additional $1.54 billion in taxpayer dollars to build a border wall or other border barriers, and, more generally, for border security operations. The group said the signing of this bill brings Texas's spending on border militarization to nearly $11.5 billion since 2021.
TCRP President Rochelle Garza condemned the signing of the bills.
“The passage of these laws signifies not only what Texas lawmakers will do in an attempt to gain power over federal immigration practices, but that they don’t care about the real harm these laws cause,” Garza said.
Senate Bill 4 is unconstitutional and paints a target on the friends and loved ones of all undocumented Texans to be profiled, stopped, or arrested by law enforcement. We will be filing a lawsuit to stop SB 4 from going into effect before its impact is felt by communities across the state.”
Tami Goodlette, director of the Beyond Borders Program at TCRP, said: “Senate Bill 4 is an egregious violation of settled law, and a clear attempt by Governor Abbott to create his own immigration policies. We are committed to fighting this discriminatory law in court. The far-reaching authority of SB 4 stirs fear in people who have called Texas home for generations. This law will also lead to needless arrests and will further confuse people navigating their path to safety at our borders. We cannot stand by as the state enacts a hostile takeover of federal immigration law.”
Here is the letter Rep. Gonzalez and other members of Congress sent to Attorney General Garland:
December 18, 2023
The Honorable Merrick Garland Attorney General
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20530
Dear Attorney General Garland:
We write to express grave concern over Texas Senate Bill 4 (4), legislation signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott today, December 18, 2023. This legislation authorizes state law enforcement officers to arrest and detain people and state judges to order mass deportations. This bill is set to be the most extreme anti-immigrant state bill in the United States; it is clearly preempted by federal law and when it goes into effect will likely result in racial profiling, significant due process violations, and unlawful arrests of citizens, lawful permanent residents, and others. In practice, this would place people with authorization to be in the United States, even United States citizens, at risk of being forced to leave Texas. SB 4 is dangerously reminiscent of a shameful time in American history – “Operation Wetback” in the 1950s. This operation included Border Patrol agents and local officials using military-style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants, including those who lawfully entered the United States or were United States citizens, and the justification for these brutal tactics included widespread stereotypes about Mexicans. We urge you to assert your authority over federal immigration and foreign policy and pursue legal action, as appropriate, to stop this unconstitutional and dangerous legislation from going into effect.
Governor Abbott and Republicans in Texas have repeatedly targeted marginalized communities and are increasingly infringing on federal authority over immigration and foreign policy. In 2021, Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star (OLS), an initiative from the state law enforcement and Texas National Guard to target suspected migrants for arrest and state and local criminal prosecution. In addition to violating the Supremacy Clause, OLS also raises concerns over due process and civil rights – as this operation has already led to unequal and discriminatory application of the law on the basis of race, national origin, or color. In particular, OLS has led to prolonged and arbitrary detention, unfair hearings, and an increase in dangerous vehicular pursuits. Abbott has also transported thousands of migrants to locations across the country, disrupting federal efforts to coordinate the movement of migrants to communities ready to integrate them. This has endangered migrants, led to the death of three-year-old child, and is yet another example of Abbott’s overstepping his authority.
We are concerned that, without intervention from the Justice Department, Governor Abbott and Texas authorities will continue these harmful and unconstitutional actions – including through SB 4.
SB 4 is dangerous for the people of Texas and interferes with the federal government’s exclusive authority over immigration and foreign affairs. SB 4 also potentially impedes on due process and civil rights everyone in the United States is entitled to, regardless of the color of their skin or suspected immigration status. SB 4 would make it a misdemeanor, and in some cases a felony, at the state level to cross the border from Mexico into Texas without authorization, allowing Texas law enforcement to inquire about a person’s immigration status and make arrests. SB 4 would also require a state judge to order people convicted of illegal entry or reentry to leave Texas for Mexico or face further prosecution for a misdemeanor or felony if they do not comply with the state judge’s order to leave the country. This law will also create significant issues where the law seeks to remove people to a foreign nation, which the state has neither legal nor the practical ability to do. The process of removing people from the United States is constitutionally a federal process and excluding federal authorities, including Department of Homeland Security agents trained in immigration law and federal judges trained to enforce it, will obstruct asylum cases, result in erroneous determinations, and put many people in danger.
SB 4 is an unlawful attempt to engage in federal immigration enforcement. This law will also interfere with federal efforts to create a safe, humane, and orderly system at the border. Last, this law will impede the constitutional rights and civil liberties of those in Texas. In light of these concerns, we urge the Department of Justice to step in immediately to intervene and prevent this harmful piece of legislation from being implemented.
Respectfully,
Joaquin Castro
Nanette Diaz Barragán
Delia C. Ramirez
Marc A. Veasey
Jasmine Crockett
Greg Casar
Jesús G. "Chuy" García
Lloyd Doggett
J. Luis Correa
Sheila Jackson Lee
Veronica Escobar
Linda T. Sánchez
Juan Vargas
Adriano Espaillat
Colin Z. Allred
Sylvia R. Garcia
Grace F. Napolitano
Al Green
Vicente Gonzalez
Lizzie Fletcher
Norma J. Torres
Members of Congress
CC:
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States
The Honorable Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State
The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of Defense
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
