EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Immigrant advocacy groups, in collaboration with El Paso County, have filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas, arguing that newly signed Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) is illegal and unconstitutional.
Passing SB 4 has been one of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities, and he signed it into law Monday, Dec. 18.
The law that is set to go into effect in March of next year, barring an injunction, would make crossing the border illegally a state crime, and allow local and state law enforcement to arrest an individual suspected of crossing the border illegally, and have a state judge order the deportation of that person.
The Las Americas Immigration Advocacy Center, based in El Paso County, was one of the groups responsible for filing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit’s aim is to ask that the federal court in Austin declare that SB 4 is unconstitutional, and to implement a permanent injunction, which would keep the law from going into effect.
Director of Advocacy and Legal Services at Las Americas, Jennifer Babaie, said they expect there to be an appeal and that the legal battle could be drawn out past March, when the law is set to go into effect.
Babaie explained their main concern if SB 4 gets to see the light of day.
“The biggest one I see is that innocent people are going to be caught in the crosshairs of the law. That’s one. So what I mean by that is somebody who is here seeking asylum but doesn’t have the right paperwork, could be put in a county jail. And just imagining one person impacted by that is a harm too great,” Babaie said.
Las Americas said one of their priorities from now until March, is to educate the community, especially families of mixed-status of their rights and the impact this law could have.
“The entire household needs to know where the passports are, where the birth certificates are, where all of these documents are. They need to be in a safe place. They need to be accessible by any member of the family,” said Marisa Limon Garza, executive director for Las Americas. “Now is not the time for secrets. If you or your child are undocumented and your child does not know, they need to know now because they will also be potentially impacted by this law.”
The lawsuit named El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks as one of the defendants, along with Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw.
Hicks held a press conference Tuesday and said he was expecting a lawsuit to be filed against SB 4, but was surprised that he was one of the named defendants.
Hicks said if the law were to go into effect, his office would exercise prosecutorial discretion.
“These cases are not going to have the same priority as a case where I have a victim of a crime, aggravated assault or sexual assault. Obviously, we want to make sure that we have those resources,” Hicks said.
One of the other concerns about SB 4 is that people and families in communities like El Paso may be reluctant to report crimes to law enforcement for fear of what may happen regarding their immigration status.
Hicks said even if SB 4 went into effect, he urged people not to hesitate to contact law enforcement if they are a victim or witnessed a crime, regardless of their citizenship status.
“Citizenship is absolutely not a requirement to receive services as a victim of crime,” Hicks said.
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