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DOJ threatens to sue Texas over anti-illegal immigration

law; Abbott prepared for Supreme Court fight
It's the latest legal battle between Texas and the administration over illegal immigration
By Adam Shaw Fox News

Published December 28, 2023 8:06pm EST

Mexico ‘has the upper hand’ against the US over the border: Auden Abello
Independent journalist Auden Cabello joins ‘America Reports’ to discuss the White House and Mexico holding a meeting amid the migrant surge.

The Biden administration on Thursday threatened to sue Texas if it moves forward with a
new anti-illegal immigration law signed this month by Gov. Greg Abbott – but the
Republican governor says he is prepared to take the fight to the Supreme Court.

Abbott signed the legislation, SB 4, this month, which allows law enforcement to arrest
illegal immigrants and allows state judges to order them removed from the country.

In a letter to Abbott, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, the Department of Justice
says it will "pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere
with the functions of the federal government."

TEXAS IMMIGRATION LAW PUSHBACK MARKS LATEST TENSION BETWEEN BIDEN

ADMINISTRATION AND BORDER STATES OVER CRISIS

The letter says that the law "intrudes into a field that is occupied by the federal
government and is preempted," citing a 2012 Supreme Court ruling, U.S. v Arizona, which
found that the federal government has the power to enforce immigration law, according to
the outlet .

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pictured during a panel discussion at the Yale Club in Manhattan on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023.
(Luiz C. Ribeiro/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Abbott’s office said Texas was prepared to go to the
nation’s highest court in defense of the legislation.

"Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect
Texans and Americans from President Biden’s open border policies," spokesperson Renae
Eze said. "President Biden’s deliberate and dangerous inaction at our southern border has
left Texas to fend for itself. Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law last week to help
stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas as the President refuses to enforce federal
immigration laws."

TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT SIGNS BILL MAKING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION A STATE CRIME

The legal battle is the latest clash between Abbott and the Biden administration over the
illegal immigrant crisis at the border, of which Texas has been on the front line. Abbott has
accused the Biden administration of failing to secure the border, while the administration
has accused Abbott of promoting inhumane policies at the border.

Last week a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the Biden administration from
cutting razor wire set up by Texas earlier this year. The state had sued in October and had
been rebuffed by a federal judge, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals barred the Biden
administration from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s
[concertina wire] fence in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas" unless it is for a medical
emergency.

Migrants depart from Tapachula, Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. ((AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente))

Separately, the DOJ has sued Texas over its deployment of buoys in the Rio Grande to stop
illegal crossings. Texas says the buoys are designed to save lives by preventing people
from entering the river, but humanitarian groups and the DOJ argue the barrier poses a
safety risk.

The White House has also criticized Abbott for his moves to bus migrants to "sanctuary"
cities, including Chicago and New York City, which Abbott says is necessary to relieve
overwhelmed border communities.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT BLOCKS BIDEN ADMIN FROM REMOVING TEXAS' RAZOR
WIRE AT SOUTHERN BORDER

"We believe that Gov. Abbott's policies and political stunts are not safe, not safe for Texas
communities and our CBP, our law enforcement on the ground who are trying to do their
work. It puts them in harm's way, and they dehumanize and demonize immigrants. That's
what his political stunts do," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last
week.

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