According to the ACLU, the fight against SB4, the anti-immigrant law in the state of Texas which has been viewed as unconstitutional, is not over just yet.
Recently, a federal court determined that key provisions of the law were unconstitutional two days before it was scheduled to go into effect; however, Governor Greg Abbott filed an emergency motion with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals requesting that the law be allowed to go into effect as previously planned. Abbott stated that the decision to block the law made communities in the state feel less safe.
The ACLU, meanwhile, states that SB4 is essentially about making racial profiling legal and basically placing a target on all people of color across the state, as well as turning all local and state law enforcement officers into federal immigration agents and compelling them to serve on the deportation task force created by President Donald Trump, even though they already have another job to do. Furthermore, the ACLU says SB4 takes away authority from locally elected officials to be able to control all of their own resources, as well as dissolves trust between members of local law enforcement and the communities that they are sworn to serve.
The ACLU also says that SB4 is a violation of the First Amendment since it prohibits local officials from being able to endorse specific viewpoints, as it threatens them with heavy fines and removal from office for disagreeing with the law. Furthermore, law enforcement officials who refuse to comply with any and all federal immigration detainers can also face jail time as well. Additionally, ICE detainer requests, which are required to be honored by SB4, are in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits anyone from being detained without either probable cause or a warrant that has been signed by a judge.
SB4 has been met with a great deal of resistance since its creation, from members of the Texas Legislature to the police chiefs of six Texas cities and the executive director of the Texas Police Chiefs Association.