A similar law in Arizona overturned a decade ago may give clues about the chaos to ensue.
By Ja’han Jones
The ReidOut Blog Writer
MSNBC
Texas is tempting fate with a new anti-immigration bill, known as S.B. 4, that makes entering Texas illegally a state-level infraction and grants state police the authority to enforce immigration law, usurping powers that are constitutionally granted to the federal government.
The law is already being challenged in court by civil rights and Latino advocacy groups. And it’s been denounced by the Biden administration too.
As Steve Vladeck wrote for MSNBC recently, the law mirrors an Arizona law known as S.B. 1070 that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2012. The reason? The law was impossible to enforce legally, and it trampled on civil and human rights while subjecting people to racial profiling.
If you want some of the backstory on S.B. 1070, producer Osej Serratos put together an excellent NBC News report back in 2017 on millennials who suffered under the law.
Reports suggest Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court rule on the law again, now that Donald Trump has packed it with right-wing ideologues. But for the time being, the law is in effect, leaving lots of Texans vulnerable to a political terrorism Arizonans remember all too well. And the chaos that could ensue as a result may well blow up in Abbott’s face.
