Texas – In an appalling decision today, the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court issued an official decision allowing Texas to enforce anti-immigrant Senate Bill 4 (SB4), also known as Texas’ Deportation Law. For months, Governor Abbott and his right-wing allies have plotted and vowed to take this battle to the Supreme Court to ensure implementation of SB4. While this litigation plays out in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to determine the constitutionality of SB4, the U.S. Supreme Court had paused the bill from taking effect, and even extended that pause just yesterday. However, today’s decision officially ends the pause and allows Texas to carry out this unlawful bill while litigation unfolds out. SB4 now joins Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star as active schemes to target, arrest and deport immigrants who call Texas home.
Juan Jose Martinez-Guevera, Texas Advocacy Manager of United We Dream Action, said:
“The conservative U.S. Supreme Court, stacked with Trump-appointed judges, continues to show their allegiance to a MAGA white supremacist agenda that seeks to implement the most extreme and violent anti-immigrant policies across the country. The Supreme Court’s heinous ruling today allows Abbott to effectively turn every police officer into an ICE agent and gives them wide scale authority to racially profile Black and brown people in Texas, separate immigrant families, and deport our loved ones, friends, and neighbors.
For months, immigrant youth and our allies across Texas have been fighting back against this racist and unconstitutional bill. Texans have made it abundantly clear that we reject legislation built on racism, exclusion, and violence, and we will not stand by as our communities are under attack. SB4 is one piece of a massive puzzle led by white supremacist extremists. But our communities are powerful, and we know our rights. We call on local electeds to stand up against SB4 and Operation Lone Star and reject their enforcement in our communities. We will never allow a law to determine our humanity. We are proud to be immigrants. We are undocumented and unafraid! We will continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure our communities are protected.”