HOUSTON – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Texas police can arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border.
The Biden administration had argued Senate Bill 4 is unconstitutional because it interferes with federal immigration laws.
As the courts continue to play out the legality of SB 4, KPRC 2′s Zach Lashway sat down with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to hear his thoughts.
“It was a great ruling,” Paxton said.
“The fight’s not over obviously, but the fact that this law, SB 4, that allows Texas to remove people that have come here illegally is really important, not just to me or our state, but it’s really important to the nation to send a message that yes, states do have rights,” Paxton shared.
The Attorney General said the federal government has failed to protect our border.
“They’re not just failing. They’re encouraging the cartels to bring people here,” he said.”
“As people are dealing with fentanyl overdoses of their children, as they’re dealing with potential terrorists coming into our nation, as they’re dealing with higher crime rates in our cities because of this illegal immigration problem, I think it is important for them to know that Texas is going to try to protect them and try to defend them, even if the federal government will not, and actually is doing just the opposite by encouraging this behavior.”
When asked if he was surprised by the ruling, Paxton said, “I guess I’m always surprised when we win. I shouldn’t be, but I’m always surprised because you can never know when you get to a court how things are gonna turn out. You can never predict it, especially when you’re at the highest level of the court. So yeah, I’m always, I would say, happily surprised when it goes well.”
The legal case is far from over. The case will now go back to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on April 3.
Eventually it has to be resolved in a federal court in Austin, where the lawsuits were originally filed.