Federal Judge Blocks Certain Provisions of Texas Immigration Law

A federal judge on May 14 blocked enforcement of certain provisions of a Texas immigration law that criminalize at the state level illegal entry or reentry into the United States after deportation.

In a 78-page order, U.S. District Judge David Ezra granted a preliminary injunction sought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas and other groups pursuing a class-action lawsuit to represent thousands of people across the state seeking to challenge Senate Bill 4 (SB 4), which was set to take effect on May 15.

The injunction halts key provisions of SB 4–which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in December 2023—that allow magistrates to issue deportation orders and make it a state-level crime for foreign nationals to reenter the United States after deportation, regardless of whether the individuals have since obtained federal permission or a green card.

In his ruling, Ezra said the Texas immigration law conflicts with federal immigration law because it grants state officials “the power to enforce federal law without federal supervision.”

“If allowed to proceed, SB 4 could open the door to each state passing its own version of immigration laws,” the judge stated. “The effect would moot the uniform regulation of immigration throughout the country and force the federal government to navigate a patchwork of inconsistent regulation.”

The ACLU has described the Texas bill as “one of the most extreme” anti-immigrant laws ever passed by a state legislature in the country.

“S.B. 4 would instill fear in our communities, cause widespread racial profiling, and subject lawfully present immigrants to arrest, detention, and deportation,” the groups said in a joint statement on May 14. “Texas cannot override the U.S. Constitution and should stop wasting time attempting to do so.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which was named as a defendant in the filing, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Paxton said in an April 24 statement that the state law is intended to prevent noncitizens from violating U.S. immigration laws.

“Texas’s right to arrest illegals, protect our citizens, and enforce immigration law is fundamental,” he said.

The groups filed the lawsuit on May 4 after a federal appeals court in April overturned a 2024 injunction issued during the Biden administration that had prevented the law from being enforced.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 10–7 to overturn the injunction. The majority said SB 4 was enacted to respond to “widespread, illegal, disruptive immigration into the State,” involving “more than 6 million illegal aliens, from over 100 countries,” including 100,000 unaccompanied minors, about 2,000 gang members, and 336 persons on the terrorist watchlist, who streamed across Texas’s international border from 2021 to 2023.

Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.