WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to prevent a Texas immigration law from going into effect that would make it a state crime to cross the southern border unlawfully.
A federal judge blocked the sweeping law for being “antithetical to the Constitution,” but the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later revived it. Without the high court’s intervention by the end of the week, Texas will begin deporting noncitizens within the state.
“Absent this court’s intervention, [Senate Bill] 4 will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 10, 2024, profoundly altering the status quo that has existed between the United States and the states in the context of immigration for almost 150 years,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in an emergency application before the court.
Shortly after the government filed its application, Justice Samuel Alito, a Bush appointee, gave the court three additional days to intervene in the case, extending the administrative stay until March 13. Alito ordered Texas to respond to the application by March 11.
The Biden administration said allowing Texas’ law to go into effect would harm the government’s relationship with other countries — particularly Mexico which has not agreed to accept deportees from Texas.
“By allowing Texas to remove noncitizens to Mexico without its consent, SB4 would have significant and immediate adverse effects on the United States’ relationship with Mexico — a relationship that is critical to the federal government’s ability to effectively address immigration at the southwest border,” Prelogar wrote.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 4 into law in December. By classifying illegal border crossings under state law, Abbott and the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature gave state law enforcement officers the ability to capture and deport anyone suspected of entering the country illegally. Anyone who refuses to follow a state court deportation order would face up to 20 years in state prison.
The law grants exceptions only to individuals who can prove they are in the country legally, through either asylum or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Immigrant advocacy groups and El Paso County quickly sued the Texas Department of Public Safety to challenge the law. The organizations claim the law will interfere with their efforts to aid asylum seekers, while the county said the law will strain its jail system.
The Justice Department also jumped into the fray, suing the state. The Biden administration claims Texas is infringing on the federal government’s interest in regulating immigration and foreign affairs.
Prelogar said the court has long recognized that the federal government is the sole authority on regulating noncitizens within the country. The government claims that the nation must speak with one voice on matters involving foreign affairs, noting that Mexico has not consented to accepting noncitizens removed by Texas.
Texas has attempted to justify SB 4 under the state war clause of the Constitution, which allows states to engage in war if they are invaded. Texas has equated illegal immigration to an invasion.
The government strongly rejects that argument.
“A surge of unauthorized immigration plainly is not an invasion within the meaning of the State War Clause,” Prelogar wrote. “And even if it were, the clause does not permit states to contradict the federal government’s considered response to any invasion that has occurred.”
The Biden administration asked the court to act by March 10 or extend the pause on the court of appeals ruling to preserve the status quo while reviewing the application.
Follow @KelseyReichmann
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