Overview
- An en banc Fifth Circuit panel lifted the injunction on Texas’s SB 4 after finding the challengers lacked legal standing to sue, allowing the state to resume enforcement.
- SB 4 makes crossing into Texas outside an official port of entry a state crime and lets state and local police arrest suspects, with state judges empowered to order people returned to the country they entered from.
- In cases where a person refuses a return order, the law allows prison terms that can reach up to 20 years, raising the stakes for migrants who are detained under state authority.
- The court did not decide whether SB 4 conflicts with federal immigration law under the Supremacy Clause, signaling more litigation and a possible path back to the Supreme Court.
- Immigrant-rights groups and El Paso had won earlier blocks, and the Biden administration had sued before the federal government withdrew its case in 2025, while Arizona’s voter-approved Proposition 314 could move forward because it is keyed to SB 4’s legal status.