When the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 4 on party-line votes, it marked the most extreme immigration measure to make it through a state house since Arizona’s infamous Senate Bill 1070, the so-called “show me your papers” law. Within moments, all eyes turned to the courts. Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit announced that most of the Texas law does not violate the U.S. Constitution. City of El Cenizo v. Texas, No. 17-50762, slip op. (5th Cir. March 13, 2018). As a result, Texas law enforcement agencies and local governments are now blocked from choosing to limit [...]
Texas anti-migrant law largely halted or curtailed
As attention remains focused on Hurricane Harvey’s devastating impact on the Texas Gulf Coast, the state’s controversial immigration law was to go into effect on Friday. Late Wednesday, a San Antonio federal court put that schedule on hold for most of the law. Its “show-me-your-papers” provision, however, can go into limited effect. Senate Bill 4 marks the pinnacle of state Republican elected officials to tie state and local governments to ICE’s immigration enforcement practices. The law authorizes police to ask about immigration status. It requires compliance with immigration detainers [...]
9 Cir: Arizona’s no bail law is unconstitutional
After years of litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit announced yesterday that Arizona’s no bail law for unauthorized migrants violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Lopez-Valenzuela v. Arpaio, No. 11-16487, slip op. (9th Cir. Oct. 15, 2014) (en banc). This case involved a facial challenge to Arizona’s Proposition 100, a slate of amendments to the state constitution that, among other things, prohibit state judges from setting bail of any amount for people charged with a slew of state felonies if the judge had probable cause to believe that the [...]