On July 3, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision that Texas’ notorious Senate Bill 4 is unconstitutional. For years, the state has sought to begin implementing a law that would allow state-level officials to carry out immigration enforcement actions, even though the power to do so is federal.
If enforced, SB4 would allow state and local law enforcement officers to arrest and question people they suspect are undocumented, and allow judges to order detainees’ removal to the border. Federal courts have blocked SB4 since it was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott (R) in December 2023. But under the administration of President Donald Trump, advocates were unsure whether this would change.
“Immigration enforcement is the sole authority of the federal government,” Aron Thorn, senior attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project, told Filter. “Whether the federal government is enforcing that law in a way that the State of Texas approves or disapproves of, the Constitution makes clear that it does not give license to the states to make their own immigration law.”
SB4 would create a new state-level criminal offense of “illegal entry” to Texas, with a six-month jail penalty. The ACLU of Texas has characterized it as “one of the most extreme pieces of anti-immigrant legislation any state legislature has ever enacted.” People who were previously denied admission or deported could be charged with “illegal re-entry”—carrying a potential 20-year prison sentence.
“Immigration enforcement is the sole authority of the federal government.”
After Abbott signed SB4, civil rights organizations immediately sued the state of Texas in federal court. Texas Civil Rights Project argued in the appeals case on behalf of American Gateways and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, two nonprofits based in Texas. In January 2024, the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden sued Texas as well. The litigation was consolidated, and in February 2024 a preliminary injunction was granted to block SB 4 from taking effect. Texas appealed the decision. In March 2025 the DOJ under Trump dropped the suit, but the civil rights group continued.
The question now is whether the Texas government will continue to litigate, and potentially even take the case to the Supreme Court.
Thorn said there could be several paths forward. The state could request a rehearing en banc, wherein all Fifth Circuit judges would hear the appeal again. If the state lost at that level, it could request that the Supreme Court intervene. Or the state could bypass the en banc procedure and immediately ask the Supreme Court to review the current ruling.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that federal authority preempted state-level authority in the area of immigration. Among other concerns, the justices wrote that other nations need to be able communicate with one government, not 50. “These considerations apply in full force to SB 4 and certainly auger in favor of concluding that Congress intended to occupy the field regarding the entry and removal of aliens,” they wrote.
ICE is now the the highest-funded federal agency.
“Since [SB4] was passed, community members and advocates have been fearful about what this can mean for them as they try to conduct their daily lives,” Priscilla Olivarez, senior policy attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told Filter “We’re very grateful the Fifth Circuit agreed.”
Operation Lone Star is being enforced in many part of Texas, however. Since launching in March 2021, this state-level initiative has deputized the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to make immigration-related arrests, working closely with federal border patrol agents. Olivarez described a climate in which state officials work in tandem with the federal government to sow fear.
“We’ve seen deadly high-speed chases increase in localities where [Operation Lone Star is] active,” she said. “It targets migrants for arrest and deportation and funnels them into a state system created just for immigrants—so, a state jail system, docket and public defenders … where they’re prevented from accessing the asylum system.”
On July 4, Trump signed into law the “Big, Beautiful Bill” that appropriates around $170 billion for border enforcement. ICE is now the the highest-funded federal agency, and its newly tripled budget will include about $30 billion for new hires and and other administrative and personnel expenses. The bill also appropriates $45 billion for immigrant detention centers and another $46.5 billion to build the border wall. And $5 billion more for Customs and Border Protection facilities.
Photograph (cropped) via Representative Tony Gonzalez (R-TX)
