June 18, 2024
An Extreme Anti-Immigrant Law Could Threaten Undocumented Youth in Texas
By Finn Cooley
SB 4, which the ACLU called one of the most extreme pieces of anti-immigrant legislation ever enacted, would give Texas police the power to engage in immigration enforcement.
(Justin Hamel / Getty)
As an undocumented high school sophomore in El Paso, Texas, Sofia has been considering applying exclusively to out-of-state colleges. “I have lived in El Paso since I was a year old. This city has become my home,” she said. “There is no reason I would remain and place myself in so much danger just by existing.”
Sofia was referring to Texas’s Senate Bill 4. Passed in 2022, the law would make unlawful border crossings a state crime and give Texas police officers the power to engage in immigration enforcement, including detaining those suspected of being non-US citizens or having crossed the border without permission. “Police may charge individuals with a new state crime of ‘illegal entry’ to Texas, punishable by up to 6 months in jail,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Initially set to go into effect in March, SB 4 was temporarily delayed in the face of ongoing legal battles around its constitutionality. The ACLU called it “one of the most extreme pieces of anti-immigrant legislation any state legislature has ever enacted,” and filed a lawsuit along with the Texas Civil Rights Project in December to prevent the law from going into effect.
