DOJ threatens to sue Texas governor over law allowing police to arrest migrants

Under the new law, law enforcement officials will be granted powers to arrest and deport migrants who illegally enter Texas

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is threatening to sue Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott over new legislation allowing local law enforcement to arrest migrants crossing the southern border into the US.

In a letter from the Biden administration to Mr Abbott’s office, the federal government announced its intention to sue “to enjoin the enforcement of SB 4 unless Texas agrees to refrain from enforcing the law,” CNN reported.

The DOJ claims the new law – Senate Bill 4 – violates the US constitution.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, who authored the letter, said the government is “committed to…securing the border” but that the Texas statute is “contrary to these goals”.

Mr Abbott voiced his frustration with the letter on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.

“The Biden Admin not only refuses to enforce current US immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration,” he said in a post.

“I’ve never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America. Biden is destroying America. Texas is trying to save it.”

Under the new law, law enforcement officials will be granted powers to arrest and deport migrants who illegally enter Texas.

Repeat offenders are punishable by up to 20 years in prison – something that critics have deried as the most draconian anti-immigrant measure passed in more than a decade.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande and entered the US from Mexico on 19 October 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in an effort to stop the state from rolling out the legislation, which is due to take effect in March.

“Governor Abbott’s efforts to circumvent the federal immigration system and deny people the right to due process is not only unconstitutional, but also dangerously prone to error, and will disproportionately harm Black and Brown people regardless of their immigration status,” Anand Balakrishnan, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project said.

The Justice Department’s latest warning to Mr Abbott is far from the first spat between the Biden administration and the Texas governor.

Earlier this year, the federal government sued Mr Abbott’s administration over the use of a floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River – something that human rights groups slammed as inhumane.

The DOJ said that Mr Abbott did not have jurisdiction over the border land.

A ruling has not yet been made on the suit.

In August, a migrant’s body was found attached to the barrier.

Officials from the US and Mexico are expected to hold talks in Washington DC about the border next month.