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Texas immigration law unconstitutional – Mayorkas

Published:Friday | March 22, 2024 | 12:09 AM
Migrants and Catholics hold an Easter-related event to remember migrants who have died, disappeared, are imprisoned, or have been maimed, with a Way of the Cross procession in Guatemala City, on March 15. The cross reads in Spanish ‘Way of the Migrant Cr
AP Moises Castillo
Migrants and Catholics hold an Easter-related event to remember migrants who have died, disappeared, are imprisoned, or have been maimed, with a Way of the Cross procession in Guatemala City, on March 15. The cross reads in Spanish ‘Way of the Migrant Cross’.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP):

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday that a Texas law giving state authorities the power to arrest and deport migrants who have entered the country illegally is unconstitutional.

Mayorkas spoke during a joint news conference with Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo in the Guatemalan capital.

“It is our strongly held view as a matter of law that SB4 (the Texas law) ... is unconstitutional and it is our hope and confidence that the courts will strike it down with finality,” Mayorkas said.

The Texas law passed last year would allow the state to arrest and deport people who enter the US illegally. The US Justice Department has challenged the law as a clear violation of federal authority.

A three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on the Texas law Wednesday, but did not rule. The law is on hold for now.