The U.S. Department of Justice has put Texas on notice, threatening legal action if the state begins to enforce a freshly minted law targeting individuals suspected of illegal border crossings. Gov. Greg Abbott remains in the DOJ's crosshairs for backing Senate Bill 4, which empowers state police to detain those who are believed to have entered Texas unlawfully between designated ports of entry, as stated in The Texas Tribune.
Abbott, unwavering in his stance, has signaled readiness to take the fight up to the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of the contentious legislation. "I’ve never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America," Abbott said. In a further provocation, Abbott claims the new law is a bulwark aimed at stemming what he describes as "a tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas," as per The Texas Tribune.
Tensions have not only flared on the domestic front but also internationally. Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has voiced his disapproval, suggesting Mexico could challenge the law. On the other side of the aisle, Democrats have seized on the DOJ’s move with relief, with U.S. Rep. Greg Casar remarking, "Asking local police to hunt down Texans who look like immigrants doesn’t make us safer: in fact, it takes police away from investigating real crime," as reported by the San Marcos Record.
