The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a Biden administration emergency request and is allowing the State of Texas to enforce Governor Greg Abbott’s new anti-immigrant law that some say is largely similar to Arizona’s highly-controversial “show me your papers” law. SCOTUS struck down Arizona’s SB 1070 a dozen years ago, and a lower court has already ruled the Texas law is likely unconstitutional.
Calling it “one of the nation’s harshest immigration laws,” The Washington Post reports the “divided decision was preliminary and urged a lower court to quickly decide whether to allow the law to remain in effect while appeals continue. That approach drew dissent from the three liberal justices, two of whom said the majority was inviting ‘further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement.'”
SB 4 allows “Texas police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border,” The Texas Tribune reports, noting in an explainer that the law allows people to “be charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. For subsequent offenses, the person could be charged with a second-degree felony and face up to 20 years in prison.”
“Immigration advocacy organizations and the Department of Justice say the law encroaches on the federal government’s sole authority over immigration and will lead to racial profiling by police.”
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Former Dept. of Homeland Security Deputy General Counsel Tom Jawetz, now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), took Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh to task, saying they “ben[t] over backwards to explain they are absolutely not evaluating the likelihood that Texas will succeed in appealing the order enjoining SB4.”
“They know it’s illegal. Not a hard call. I expect both of them–and maybe Roberts–ultimately will rule that way.”
Hope Border Institute executive director Dylan Corbett, wrote: “SCOTUS is greenlighting SB4, Texas’ extra-constitutional immigration regime, transparently fueled by dehumanizing xenophobia and disregard for federal and international law. All Texans are less safe today because the state will weaponize law enforcement against local communities.”
Sawyer Hackett, a Democratic strategist and senior advisor to Obama Cabinet Secretary Julián Castro, also blasted the decision.
“Incredible. One day after extending the injunction on SB4, the Supreme Court is now allowing the blatantly unconstitutional ‘show me your papers’ law to be enforced while litigation continues.”
“The Supreme Court just put a target on the back of every brown person in Texas,” Hackett warned, as he pointed to a portion of the dissent:
He also pointed out that the Supreme Court overturned Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, and asked, “How the hell does [Chief Justice] John Roberts square his decision not to dissent with his concurrence in Arizona v. U.S.?”
“This Court is losing all legitimacy,” Hackett laments.
Hackett believes this is an issue Democrats should take on, and noted the Biden administration just hours ago launched “Latinos con Biden-Harris.”
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“Democrats have a big opportunity to pick a fight on SB4,” he writes. “The Supreme Court just gave Texas its blessing to arrest, detain, and deport ANYONE suspected of being undocumented. They’ve put a target on the back of every brown person in the state.”
“It’s cruel. It’s dangerous. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s political overreach. Latino voters need to see Dems go to the mat to defend people who look like them from this insanity. It’s also a critical part of exposing the Court’s massive legitimacy crisis,” he says.
“My advice to Dems: pick the damn fight,” Hackett concludes.
American Immigration Council policy director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick also blasted the decision.
“Beginning this moment, Texas law enforcement officers can arrest any person in the state they believe crossed illegally,” he writes. “And judges can now order people to walk back into Mexico at threat of 20 years in prison if they don’t—even if the person has federal permission to be here.”
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) warns, “Today’s decision by #SCOTUS gives the green light to Texas to racially profile & harass Brown communities across our state while #SB4 makes its way through the courts. No one deserves to live in fear. We must not back down until this anti-immigrant law is gone once & for all.”
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