Justice Department Sues Texas Over New Law Cracking Down on Illegal Immigrants

Gov. Abbott replies, ‘It is Congress, not the President, that has the Constitutional power to regulate immigration.’

Venezuelan and Nicaraguan migrants are transferred by agents of the Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico to El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 27, 2022. Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against Texas over a new state law aimed at increasing security at the southern border by granting police broader powers to arrest, prosecute, and deport immigrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

The DOJ filed the lawsuit against Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) in an Austin federal court on Jan. 3 on behalf of the United States federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.