Texas Immigration Law: White House, Human Rights Groups, Legal Scholars Slam Supreme Court After Allowing State To Deport Migrants
SB4, the controversial Texas immigration law, has been given the go-ahead by a very divided US Supreme Court to begin its implementation, prompting many to cry foul, including migrant advocacy groups, Latino advocacy groups, legal experts, human rights watchdogs, and the White House.
The measure has also been dubbed the "show me your papers" law and it allows Texas law enforcement to arrest migrants on the suspicion that they are there illegally. They are then brought before a judge who will give them a choice, and that is to either voluntarily leave the country or face jail time before being forcefully deported.
The US Supreme Court voted six to three to lift the pause in the law's implementation, earning a massive outcry from various organizations and the White House. However, it should be noted that the Supreme Court action does not weigh the merits of the law. It just allowed SB4 to be implemented despite the question of its legality.
The battle over the law will now return to the appellate courts where it is expected to be rejected again. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to appeal it all the way back to the Supreme Court should he lose in the Appeals Court.
"While we are outraged over this decision, we will continue to work with our partners to have SB4 struck down," Jennefer Canales-Pelaez, a policy lawyer and strategist at the Immigration Legal Resource Center told Al Jazeera News. "The horrific and clearly unconstitutional impacts of this law on communities in Texas is terrifying."
"Everyone, no matter if you have called Texas home for decades or just got here yesterday, deserves to feel safe and have the basic right of due process," added Tami Goodlette, the director of the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project, stating that SB4 "needlessly puts people's lives at risk."
Legal scholars argued that the law subverts the federal government's constitutional authority to carry out immigration enforcement as it is stated in the Constitution that immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government, not the state.
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White House Also Slams Supreme Court Over Texas Immigration Law Decision
Meanwhile, the White House. which has been vocal in opposing the controversial Texas immigration law, has called the Supreme Court decision "harmful and unconstitutional," per The Guardian.
"We fundamentally disagree with the supreme court's order allowing Texas's harmful and unconstitutional law to go into effect," said White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. "SB4 will not only make communities in Texas less safe, it will also burden law enforcement and sow chaos and confusion at our southern border."
Human Rights Groups Warn of Abuse After Supreme Court Allows Texas Immigration Law
One of the loudest groups opposing the law are human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, which warned that the Texas immigration law "gives disproportionate and overreaching immigration enforcement powers to state and local law enforcement officers."
"National governments are entitled to regulate their borders so long as they comply with international human rights and refugee law," said Human Rights Watch Consultant Bob Libal. "But allowing Texas to run with its draconian system of criminalization and returns of asylum seekers is a recipe for chaos and abuse."
In their dissenting opinion, liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson also warned that their rightwing colleagues had invited "further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement" with their decision to allow the law to push through despite the legal questions. The majority did not explain why it allowed the law to be implemented.
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Analyst discusses Supreme Court allowing Texas to enforce controversial immigration law - CNN
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