The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 10-7 to let Texas enforce Senate Bill 4, the state law that allows local and state police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the border and empowers state magistrates to order their removal from the country.
The ruling vacated a district court injunction that had blocked the law. The brief order provided no detailed reasoning.
What SB 4 does
SB 4, passed in 2023, creates a parallel state immigration enforcement system. Texas police can arrest anyone they suspect of crossing the border without authorization. State magistrates — not federal immigration judges — can then order that person’s removal.
The law also makes it a crime to re-enter Texas after being removed, even for people who have since obtained legal status like a green card.
The constitutional problem
Immigration enforcement is exclusively a federal power. In Arizona v. United States (2012), the Supreme Court struck down key provisions of a similar Arizona law, holding that federal immigration law preempts state efforts to create parallel criminal penalties for unlawful entry.
SB 4 goes further than Arizona’s law did. It does not just let police check immigration status during stops. It lets state courts order deportations.
Who is getting arrested
Texas Department of Public Safety data showed that 15% of 2026 arrests under SB 4 involved U.S. citizens or green card holders who were later released. The law provides no compensation or remedy for people wrongfully arrested.
Operation Lone Star, the broader border enforcement program SB 4 is part of, has cost $11 billion to date. It has criminalized more than 10,000 asylum seekers, border residents, and long-term immigrant residents across 62 Texas counties.
What happens next
The ACLU, ACLU of Texas, and Texas Civil Rights Project filed a new class action lawsuit on May 4 after the en banc ruling. A federal district court issued a fresh injunction, which the Fifth Circuit panel has now stayed. The case is likely headed to the Supreme Court.
If SB 4 survives, other states will copy it. The question is no longer whether Texas can build a state deportation system. It is whether the Constitution allows any state to do so.