Focus at Four: Senate Bill 4 moves to federal judge
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – One of the most controversial laws passed by the state legislature is now in the hands of a federal judge.
Last week, attorneys debated the constitutionality of Senate Bill Four, which gives Texas Law Enforcement Officers authority to detain and, in some cases, deport undocumented migrants.
Nearly everyone involved in the case indicated they’re prepared for this case to go to higher courts, including the Supreme Court.
Professor Denise Gilman from the University of Texas School of Law, and Co-Director of the law schools Immigration Clinic told First News at Four on Monday that the process for detaining migrants, at least federally, is complicated, and this new bill doesn’t change that fact.
“What the state law does is it creates a parallel, an additional deportation system at the state level. It provides for criminal penalties for entering the United States through Texas and then also provides at the end of a criminal case the deportation order by a state-level official back to Mexico,” said Gilman.
She said that SB-4 is different than the one adopted back in 2017. This Senate Bill Four is from the end of last year and works as an additional form of deportation.
“It creates this additional layer of not just collaborating with federal authorities, but the state of Texas authorities. Anybody. A magistrate, a marshal, regular police officer, can decide that somebody is unlawfully present in the United States and bring them up on charges and put them into state detention,” said Gilman.
She said the likelihood that that the law will actually take effect is unknown, but that the judge has said he would like to issue a ruling quickly.
“I feel as though, through the constitutional standards are quite clear and that the law will in the end be found to be unconstitutional because of this impingement by the state on federal exclusive authority over immigration. But it might take quite a while before that final determination of unlawfulness is made,” said Gilman.
Senate Bill Four is set to take effect March 5th.
