Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pleaded with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 18 and said he hopes the high court will rule in favor of a state immigration enforcement law that was placed on hold earlier this month.
The law would make it a crime for people to illegally cross the U.S.–Mexico border into Texas and would allow police officers to arrest people they believe are illegal aliens. State officials, including Mr. Patrick and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, said the measure is needed to deal with historically high levels of illegal immigration into the United States, specifically into Texas, which shares a lengthy border with Mexico.
“To the Supreme Court justices who are watching Fox, I’m sure this morning as they get up early, we are being attacked ... by land, by sea, by air, literally millions coming across the border, many armed, many criminals, terrorists,” Mr. Patrick told Fox News on March 18.
The Republican official added that there have also been reports of drones at the U.S.–Mexico border that are “spying” on the United States to “help send drugs and illegal immigrants across the border.”
He added, “By land, by sea, by air—I call that an invasion.”
Last month, U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled that the measure violated the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause, which grants the federal government sole authority over immigration matters. The judge also rejected state arguments that Texas was being invaded under the U.S. Constitution’s Article IV.
Judge Ezra, a Reagan appointee, wrote at the time that the law would run afoul of federal immigration laws and said that Texas would then be able to “permanently supersede federal directives,” which would “amount to nullification of federal law and authority.” According to the judge, that’s a “notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War.”
If the law were able to stand, he wrote, the federal government would “suffer grave irreparable harm” because other states would be inspired to pass similar measures.
“SB 4 threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice,” Judge Ezra continued.
His order was subsequently appealed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton before the New Orleans-based U.S. Fifth Circuit of Appeals blocked the order, allowing the law to be enforced. The case was later appealed to the Supreme Court before Justice Alito intervened.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) also filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas, arguing that the state’s immigration law violates the U.S. Constitution.
Over the past three years, Mr. Abbott and other Texas Republicans have been critical of the Biden administration’s border enforcement policies, saying they’ve led to a surge in illegal immigration. Further, the governor has accused President Joe Biden of being derelict in his duty to enforce federal immigration laws.
President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have noted there is a problem of illegal immigration but have blamed it on a “broken” system and corruption in other countries. They’ve also said that former President Donald Trump’s policies have contributed to that broken system, although President Biden worked to undo many of his predecessor’s executive orders within days of taking office in January 2021.
