Department of Justice says it’ll sue if Texas enforces new law punishing illegal border crossing

By Joshua Fechter, The Texas Tribune

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The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened to sue to stop a new Texas law that allows state police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the border — unless Gov. Greg Abbott backs off of enforcing the law.

The new law, known as Senate Bill 4, is “unconstitutional and will disrupt the federal government’s operations” vis-à-vis immigration and border enforcement, an agency official told Gov. Greg Abbott in a letter first reported Thursday by the Houston Chronicle and later posted on social media by a CBS News reporter.

If Texas does not formally refrain from enforcing the law by Jan. 3, the agency will “pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.”

A person with knowledge of the letter confirmed that it had been sent.