Washington – A new Texas law making it a state crime to enter the country illegally is “incredibly extreme”, the White House said on Tuesday, a day after Governor Greg Abbott signed it into law.
Asked about the measure, Senate Bill 4, during a press briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the law “will not and does not make communities in Texas safer”.
“It simply doesn’t,” Jean-Pierre added.
Under the law, which went into effect in March, local law enforcement in Texas has the power to arrest migrants and judges have the ability to issue orders to remove them from the United States.
The law has sent waves of fear through the Latino community in Texas, which makes up about 40% of the state’s population, and raised concerns about racial profiling from civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups.
It comes amid a surge of migrants at the southern border that has put pressure on local, state and federal authorities to crack down on illegal crossings.
Democrats have said they believe the law is unconstitutional, and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas on Tuesday challenging the law.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project argued that the controversial border law is unconstitutional because it preempts federal law. “Immigration is a quintessentially federal power,” the lawsuit states.
Enforcement of immigration law is typically the province of the federal government, not individual state governments.
Asked if President Joe Biden supported the federal government taking legal action, Jean-Pierre said the Justice Department would decide whether to file a lawsuit and that she was “not going to get out in front of that”.
“The federal court, not individual states, has the authority to determine how and when to remove non-citizens for violating immigration laws,” she added later. “That’s where it sits and that’s where it belongs.”
The county leaders of El Paso, Harris (home to Houston) and Travis (home to Austin) counties – which represent nearly a quarter of the state’s population – penned a letter to Biden late last month urging him to stop SB 4 from taking effect, citing concerns about the constitutionality of the measure and whether it will actually make communities safer.
“We urge you to intervene to prevent this legislation from taking effect and to prevent Texas Governor Greg Abbott from violating the U.S. Constitution,” they wrote in the letter, which was published on X.