By The newspaper
03 Apr 2024, 20:06 PM EDT
Texas Attorney General Aaron Nielson himself acknowledged this Wednesday in an appeals court that state legislators “perhaps went too far” with the controversial immigration law SB4, which allows the state to arrest and deport migrants at the border.
In the hearing, held in a court in New Orleans (Louisiana) and which analyzes the legality of said law, Nielson asserted that when legislators wrote the law they sought to go to “the very limit” of what the US Supreme Court .allows states to do so, as reported by the EFE agency.
“Now, to be fair, maybe Texas went too far,” Nielson said.
The state attorney general added that, under the Texas Attorney General’s interpretation of the law, migrants subject to a detention order issued by a state (non-immigration) court will be turned over to federal authorities for deportation.
It will be then that federal authorities will determine whether these people will be released in the United States pending immigration hearings, or will be deported.
However, Nielson asserted that SB4 may not be necessary under a different presidential administration.
“Of course, we know that presidents come and go, and that different administrations might enforce federal law differently,” he said.
Strong opposition to the law
The appeals court also heard arguments today about the exclusivity of the federal government in immigration matters, EFE reported.
Daniel Tenny, a lawyer for the Department of Justice who filed one of the lawsuits challenging the Texas statute, asked the Court of Appeals not to deviate from the ruling that has the law suspended.
It must be remembered that the law has been paralyzed since last March 27, when the same court decided that it would not come into force while that court examines it. That ruling allows a lower court decision to remain in effect, blocking the new law from taking effect, which was scheduled for March, while the case is litigated.
“Nothing that occurred this morning provides any basis for deviating from the analysis set forth in this Court’s stay opinion,” Tenny stated.
Opposition to the controversial SB4 law goes beyond the authorities, and various migrant organizations have described it as unconstitutional and have filed lawsuits against Texas.
“We are going to resist the law,” Fernando García, president of the Border Network for Human Rights, which called for protesters in front of the court, told EFE this Wednesday.
“We have gathered delegations from almost the entire state of Texas, we come from El Paso, the Texas Valley, Laredo, Houston,” he added. “We want the elimination of S-B4 and Operation Lone Star.”
Keep reading:
• 5 key points you should know about the effects that the controversial SB4 law would have in Texas
• Lawyer offers 10 crucial tips for migrants in Texas after the entry into force of the SB4 law
• US Supreme Court bans Texas law that allows police to detain and expel migrants