Federal Appeals Court Allows Texas To Enforce State Immigration Law

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

A divided federal appeals court on April 24 allowed Texas to enforce a state law that permits the arrest and prosecution of individuals thought to have unlawfully crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 10–7 to undo a 2024 injunction that had prevented enforcement of the law known as Senate Bill 4. Initially, the former Biden administration had challenged the statute, but the second Trump administration dropped the challenge in March 2025.

SB 4, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed in December 2023, would make it a state-level crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country, give state judges authority to order that violators leave the United States, and allow prison sentences ⁠of up to 20 years for those refusing to comply.

The Fifth Circuit did not address the merits of the case because it found that the groups challenging the law—Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways—lacked legal standing to do so.

Standing refers to the right of someone to sue in court. The parties must demonstrate a strong enough connection to the controversy before the court to justify their participation in a lawsuit.

The groups had argued that SB 4 was preempted—or superseded—by the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

“This case concerns whether the State of Texas, exercising its historic, sovereign police powers, can legislatively protect its citizens from a surge of illegal aliens in response to an unprecedented border crisis and a declared invasion,” Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith wrote for the majority.

“The [federal] district court judge and a divided panel held that it cannot. Because the Plaintiffs that are challenging the new statute lack standing, we vacate the [district court’s] preliminary injunction without addressing the merits of the preemption claim.”

The majority said SB 4 was enacted to respond to “widespread, illegal, disruptive immigration into the State,” including “more than 6 million illegal aliens, from over 100 countries,” including 100,000 unaccompanied minors, about 2,000 gang members, and 336 persons on the terrorist watchlist, who streamed across Texas’s international border from 2021 to 2023.

Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman filed a dissenting opinion, disagreeing with the majority’s decision to deny standing.

Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, at least, would have standing to seek an injunction because if the preempted state law were to take effect, it would have to use its resources to represent clients in the state immigration system, she said.

Richman said she would have addressed the merits and upheld the district court’s injunction against the law.

“Federal laws on the books permit Texas to assist the federal government in apprehending illegal immigrants if the federal government so requests. But Texas cannot enact its own immigration regime,” she said.

A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit upheld the district court’s February 2024 injunction in July 2025, holding that SB 4 would have interfered with the federal government’s efforts to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

Along the way, in March 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court briefly permitted the statute to take effect. Not long after, the Fifth Circuit panel temporarily blocked the law pending further review.

Later, the full Fifth Circuit agreed with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request to reconsider the case.

Paxton hailed the new ruling.

“My office has secured yet another major win for Texas by defending SB 4 before the Fifth Circuit,” Paxton said in a statement.

“Texas’s right to arrest illegals, protect our citizens, and enforce immigration law is fundamental. This is a major victory for public safety and law and order,” he said.

The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways. No replies were received by publication time.