President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Texas to stop state officials from having illegal aliens arrested and ordered deported.
Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed three pieces of legislation into law, including giving state law enforcement the power to arrest illegal aliens for the crime of illegally crossing the United States-Mexico border and local judges the authority to have illegal aliens deported.
Soon after, DOJ officials began threatening Abbott with a lawsuit unless he vowed not to enforce the statewide immigration policies.
On Wednesday, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta announced that the DOJ has filed a lawsuit against Texas citing the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and Foreign Commerce Clause as evidence that the policies are unconstitutional.
“SB 4 is clearly unconstitutional,” Gupta said in a statement.
“Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress,” Gupta continued. “The Justice Department will continue to fulfill its responsibility to uphold the Constitution and enforce federal law.”
The DOJ is requesting that a federal judge declare the policies unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable by Texas officials.
The case is United States v. Texas, No. 1:24-cv-00008 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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