WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – A controversial Texas immigration law has once again landed in another courtroom.
“Texas has the right to defend itself,” Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson said during oral arguments in an emergency hearing before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.
The law, known as Senate Bill 4, gives Texas officials the authority to arrest, jail, and even deport migrants who illegally cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry.
“SB4 is a modest and important statute,” Nielson said. “It’s modest because it mirrors federal law. It’s important because it helps address what even the president has called a border crisis.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the bill in December. Since then, it’s been challenged, and blocked, and challenged again, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Texas has the legal authority to arrest people coming across the razor wire barriers on our border,” Abbott said Wednesday. “And we will continue to use our arrest authority and arrest people coming across the border illegally.”
The Biden administration says immigration and border protection are the federal government’s business. In a statement on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the Texas law “harmful and unconstitutional.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Al.) says it’s the Biden administration’s fault the law was created in the first place.
“It’s shameful that a state has to take matters into their own hands like this,” Tuberville said. “It’s embarrassing that President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security sued Texas for implementing immigration laws which they should have been implementing themselves.”
The law will remain on hold until the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issues its ruling.
