Court Blocks Key Provisions of S.B. 4, Texas’ Extreme Anti-Immigration Law

Kevin R. Johnson

15 May 2026 — 1 min read

From a Press Release from the ACLU Texas:

"The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas granted provisional class certification and a motion for preliminary injunction Thursday blocking four key provisions of Texas Senate Bill 4 (88-4).

In his order, the judge states that `S.B. 4 could open the door to each state passing its own version of immigration laws. The effect would moot the uniform regulation of immigration throughout the country and force the federal government to navigate a patchwork of inconsistent regulations.'

The 2023 law is one of the most extreme anti-immigrant laws ever passed by any state legislature in the country. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, ACLU, and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed the class-action lawsuit on May 4. The following provisions remain blocked:

The reentry crime that would apply to anyone living in or traveling through Texas who reentered the United States — even if the person had federal permission to reenter or has since obtained lawful immigration status such as a green card.
The power given to magistrates — who don’t know the intricacies of immigration law — to issue deportation orders.
The crime of failing to comply with the magistrate’s removal orders.
The requirement that magistrates continue a prosecution even when a person has a pending immigration case under federal law.

The illegal entry provision will go into effect May 15. While not a formal part of this suit, the provision suffers from the same constitutional problems as the rest of the law."

Access the court order here.

Immigration Article of the Day: Sanctuary and the Data State by Fatma Marouf & Huyen Pham

Sanctuary and the Data State by Fatma Marouf & Huyen Pham, Columbia Law Review, Vol. 126, Forthcoming 2026 Abstract Historically, sanctuary policies focused on protected physical space and limits on police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—rejecting detainer requests, restricting jail access, and declining formal collaboration agreements. But

In an anti-fraud measure, U.S. government freezes Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys lawful permanent resident applications

Reuters reports (and here) that the Trump administration has frozen some lawful permanent resident filings by Microsoft (MSFT.O), Adobe(ADBE.O) and major IT outsourcers and opened probes into nine top universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Arizona State, and UC

Human Rights Watch: "To Scare People": US Expulsions of Third-Country Nationals to Countries in Africa

From a press release from Human Rights Watch: US: Deportations to African Countries Not Their Own Denied Due Process; Some Returned to Danger in Home Countries * The United States has sent more than 500 people whom it cannot deport to their own countries, because of the danger they would face,

Immigration Article of the Day: Recalibrating the Plenary Power Doctrine After Trump v. Hawaii, Thuraissigiam, and Loper Bright by Abdul Aziz Meslat

Recalibrating the Plenary Power Doctrine After Trump v. Hawaii, Thuraissigiam, and Loper Bright by Abdul Aziz Meslat Abstract This Article reexamines the constitutional foundations and contemporary operation of the plenary power doctrine in U.S. immigration law. For more than a century, the doctrine has afforded Congress and the Executive

Read more

Immigration Article of the Day: Sanctuary and the Data State by Fatma Marouf & Huyen Pham

In an anti-fraud measure, U.S. government freezes Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys lawful permanent resident applications

Human Rights Watch: "To Scare People": US Expulsions of Third-Country Nationals to Countries in Africa

Immigration Article of the Day: Recalibrating the Plenary Power Doctrine After Trump v. Hawaii, Thuraissigiam, and Loper Bright by Abdul Aziz Meslat