AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Department of Justice announced Wednesday afternoon that it filed a lawsuit against Texas over its contentious new border security law, accusing the state of infringing on federal authority and empowering local police to unconstitutionally arrest suspected illegal immigrants.
Last week, federal authorities threatened to sue to block Senate Bill 4 if Governor Greg Abbott did not assure them the state will not enforce the law by January 3.
According to the complaint filed in an Austin federal court, the DOJ argues that “Texas’s Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) creates purported state immigration crimes for unlawful entry and unlawful reentry, permits state judges and magistrates to order the removal of noncitizens from the country, and mandates that state officials carry out those removal orders. But Texas cannot run its own immigration system. Its efforts, through SB 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations. SB 4 is invalid and must be enjoined.”
The four defendants named in the DOJ lawsuit are the State of Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety and that agency’s director, Col. Steven McCraw.
Abbott signed SB 4 into law last month, telling Nexstar at a border bill signing ceremony in Brownsville, Texas that he believes the law is constitutional, but would welcome a Supreme Court challenge to test the current balance of power over immigration law.
“Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect Texans and Americans from President Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott’s communications director Renae Eze said. “President Biden’s deliberate and dangerous inaction at our southern border has left Texas to fend for itself.”
The lawsuit came on the same day a delegation of Congressional Republicans traveled to the border to highlight frustration with the Biden administration. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, made the first public trip of his speakership to Eagle Pass, Texas, leading more than 50 House Republicans to tour the border and meet with Texas law enforcement.
Eagle Pass has been the epicenter of the humanitarian crisis on the southern border — and the political crisis in the White House. Federal immigration authorities encountered more than 300,000 migrants in December, including more than 71,000 in the sector including Eagle Pass. Only 32% of Americans are confident in President Joe Biden’s ability to make wise decisions on immigration policy, Pew Research Center reported in December.
Johnson said he “applauded” Abbott for pushing to have the state step in when it comes to enforcing immigration laws.
“If you’re the governor of Texas or a border state, or any governor, you have the responsibility, the right, the constitutional authority to do the right thing and secure your people,” Johnson said at a news conference in Eagle Pass.
Senate Bill 4 is set to go into effect in March unless a federal challenge puts it on pause.
Amid the divisions on border policy, an event Thursday in Laredo highlighted bipartisan efforts to improve border crossings to boost trade and tourism.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas were among border leaders who came to Laredo to tout a new U.S. law that could expedite the expansion and creation of several international bridges.
“We’re here today to celebrate a tremendous victory for Laredo, for South Texas, for all of the state of Texas and for the entire country,” Cruz said. “Unfortunately expansion of these bridges have been delayed for years due to roadblocks.”
Cruz and the other dignitaries addressed reporters assembled at the World Trade Bridge — the No. 1 land port for trade in the United States.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, speaks to reporters on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
One after another they took to the podium to stress how important expediting the construction process is to the border region and the American supply chain, a process they believe could begin as early as April.
Under a provision that was put in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Congress passed and Biden signed into law on December 22, the new law applies to only three counties in South Texas — Webb, Maverick and Cameron. The law allows for the construction of new international bridges and expansion projects of existing bridges to begin while environmental studies are being conducted.
Cruz described it as a “shot clock” that started Dec. 22, and under the new law, the U.S. State Department must make its recommendation to the White House on pending bridge projects within 60 days. After that point, Biden has another 60 days to approve, or deny, construction permits.
The World Trade Bridge in Laredo, Texas, handles nearly 40% of all incoming trade with Mexico. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
“So on April 20, we will have a decision. We will have the presidential permit to go forward on this bridge, and not just this bridge, but bridges in Webb County, here, in Cameron and Maverick County,” Cruz said.
Lawmakers want presidential permits for the expansion of the World Trade Bridge in Laredo to increase it to 18 lanes. They also want to build three other bridges in Texas:
The 4/5 Bridge in Rio Bravo, southeast of Laredo.
The Flor de Mayo International Bridge in Brownsville.
The Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge in Eagle Pass.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, worked with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to get the language put into the 2024 NDAA bill, which authorizes the budget and expenses for the armed services for Fiscal Year 2024.
“This is the type of bipartisan work that gets the job done,” said Cuellar at a news conference on Thursday outside the bridge administrative offices, where leaders held a morning roundtable discussion. “This is the type of news that we want to see here at the border; legitimate trade and tourism and the efficiency of this.”
School district aims to add more police officers with cadet academy
School districts across Texas are working to get more armed officers on campus.
It’s the result of a new Texas law to increase campus safety, but many districts are finding it hard to fill all the positions.
House Bill 3, or HB 3, which passed last summer, required school districts to have an armed officer on every campus.
“So we have doubled our size,” said Hutto Independent School District Police Chief William Edwards. “We need six more full-time officers at this particular time.”
In April, the district will begin its cadet academy program to train safety officers into full-time Hutto ISD police officers. Candidates would start as campus safety officers and then move to cadets. Finally, if it all goes well, they would become Hutto ISD police officers.
“They can go from the safety aspect to the police aspect and stay within the same district,” Edwards said.
Edwards said putting an emphasis on safety is important.
“Having more officers on campus is definitely going to make the district safer,” Edwards said.
Hutto ISD is committed to finding innovative ways to create the staff of the future.
The Safety Officer to Police Cadet pipeline is yet another way we are investing in our current employees, helping them develop their skills, and providing career pathways that will ultimately benefit our students.
Raúl Peña
Hutto ISD Superintendent
Groups monitor for compliance, overreach of new Texas anti-DEI law
When students at the University of Texas at Austin return to classes on Jan. 16, they may notice a name change at one of the campus offices.
The Division of Diversity and Community Engagement is dropping the word “diversity” to now become the Division of Campus and Community Engagement. This is one of the ways university leaders are working to comply with Senate Bill 17, which was one of 30 new state laws that took effect on Jan. 1.
The law requires public universities in Texas to no longer have offices dedicated to DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, or employees focused specifically on that purpose. Higher education workers and job applicants also can no longer sign any statements dedicated to upholding DEI or attend trainings that reference “race, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation,” according to the law.
Supporters argued last year during the regular legislative session that the state needed this law to eliminate a political ideology from higher education.
“Our goal is to make sure that every Texas student who enters the university has the resources they need,” said Sherry Sylvester, a distinguished senior fellow at the conservative thinktank Texas Public Policy Foundation. “We want to make sure every student gets that help, but we don’t want to separate them under an ideology that some students are descended from oppressors and some students are descended from people who are oppressed. That’s what we’re trying to get rid of with this law.”
However, opponents contend this is all part of a targeted effort to scrutinize education across a growing number of states.
“Texas is at the vanguard of this attack on diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Antonio Ingram, an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “In some ways, we’re dealing with it at ground zero through the new legislation and Senate Bill 17.”
Before SB 17 went into effect, Dr. LaToya Smith, UT’s vice president for diversity and community engagement, sent out a message about her office’s name change. “While we continue the work to adjust programming to meet SB 17’s requirements and reflect this change in our focus, it is important to reiterate what will not change: our Division’s commitment to fostering access and belonging,” Smith wrote in her statement.
Other public universities throughout the state are making similar decisions to either revamp their programs or outright remove them because of this new law.
The president of the University of Texas at San Antonio shared in a message Tuesday that the school would not repurpose its Office of Inclusive Excellence.
“After continued and considered evaluation, we decided not to launch the new office,” said UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy in his statement. “Given our evolving understanding of SB 17 as well as continuing voluntary changes in staffing and personnel reappointments from that office, it no longer made sense to launch the new office.”
Eighmy instead said certain services and activities would be rehoused within existing departments. A spokesperson for UT San Antonio did not respond to a request for clarification Thursday morning, though, about how many people’s jobs would be impacted by this or whether they’re now working in other departments at the university.
Meanwhile, the University of North Texas announced in December that it’s “developing a new structure that incorporates the staff and future work of the Multicultural Center and Pride Alliance into the student engagement area of Student Affairs to ensure the university continues to best serve our students and meet their needs.” President Neal Smatresk said that the university would create a new Center for Belonging and Engagement.
“In aligning with the requirements of this new law, UNT will continue to support all students, including our first-generation, low-income, and underserved students,” Smatresk said. “We will ensure any university-developed programs or activities are designed and implemented without reference to race, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
As these changes unfold, at least two groups are monitoring how closely Texas universities are following the new law as well as which efforts may be considered overreach.
Sylvester said the Texas Public Policy Foundation will soon launch a hotline and an online portal where students and faculty members can report suspected violations of this law.
“Our goal is every student, regardless of their opinion, should be free to speak and not feel like that they are being coerced under this ideology,” she added, “so this will give students and faculty an avenue to speak out.”
However, Ingram said the Legal Defense Fund is pointing out areas where the law does not apply, including over what professors can teach or the types of student groups.
“For example, if a Black student group wants to bring in a speaker from Black Lives Matter, they are full within their rights under Senate Bill 17 to do so,” he explained. “If a Latinx student group wants to have a mentorship program for their community, they still have that ability.”
He said his organization has a network of contacts helping to make sure exceptions to the law are followed.
“I think it’s really important to note that students in this new landscape actually have a lot of power and have a lot of ability to continue to cultivate these experiences in their individual and student group capacities,” Ingram added.
Tributes for a Texas trailblazer: remembering Eddie Bernice Johnson
Memorial services next week will honor the life and legacy of former Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 88.
Her death comes less than a year after she left office, ending a career of nearly 50 years in public service. Johnson was once a psychiatric nurse before winning her first election to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972. She later won election to the Texas Senate before winning a Congressional seat in 1992.
“She was the single most effective legislator Dallas has ever had,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson in a statement. “Nobody brought more federal infrastructure money home to our city. Nobody fought harder for our communities and our residents’ interests and safety. And nobody knew how to navigate Washington better for the people of Dallas.”
The Congressional Black Caucus put out a statement detailing Johnson’s impressive accomplishments. “A former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, the first registered nurse elected to Congress, the first Black woman elected to Congress from Dallas, and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Congresswoman Johnson was a trailblazer who served her constituents and her country honorably in the U.S. Congress for 30 years.”
Johnson was also the first Black woman to chair the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
President Joe Biden lauded her “immense courage” and proclaimed her “an icon and mentor to generations of public servants, through whom her legacy of resilience and purpose will endure.”
After Johnson announced her retirement in 2021, she handpicked the Dallas Democrat she wanted to carry on her legacy, calling on then-Texas House member Jasmine Crockett to run for the seat.
“She was the one that I asked to run, because she has shown she’s willing to work,” Johnson said of Crockett.
“I never imagined that I would be running for Congress,” said Crockett about Johnson’s call to run. “I never imagined that she would call me of all people.”
Crockett says big transportation projects are part of the legacy Johnson leaves for her North Texas district, and she plans to keep the momentum that Johnson built going.
There will be three days of memorials to celebrate Johnson’s life. Johnson will lie in state at Fair Park in Dallas on Monday, leading up to a wake that evening. Her funeral will be held Tuesday in Dallas.
On Wednesday, Johnson will be buried in Austin at the Texas State Cemetery.
Zaffirini makes history, again, becoming Dean of Texas Senate
Judith Zaffirini is no stranger to making history. In 1986, she became the first Mexican-American woman elected to the Texas State Senate. Since taking office in 1987, she’s never missed a vote in the Senate. Earlier this year, she cast her 70-thousandth consecutive vote. That’s a record among Texas lawmakers.
Now, Senator Zaffirini is making history again. She’s taking on the role of Dean of the Texas Senate. Zaffirini will be the first woman to serve as Dean.
The role of the Dean is determined by seniority, and no one has served longer in the Senate. The previous Dean, John Whitmire, resigned late last month after more than 40 years in the Senate. He’s now serving as the Mayor of Houston.
Zaffirini said because the next three senators in seniority are men, it could be a long time before another woman gets the chance to assume the deanship.
“Only 24 women have served in the Texas Senate with 952 men, including the four Democratic and four Republican women who serve today,” Zaffirini said.
She said she is excited to serve the public in this new role but hopes this first is a reminder that more women are needed in public office.
“It’s very sad that it’s taken that long, and it’s very disappointing that we have had only 24 women in the Texas Senate. So we need more women to run for elected office and to win,” Zaffirini said.
Read: Read More