The law allows police to arrest migrants believed to have entered illegally. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has issued an administrative stay temporarily blocking Texas’ strict immigration law, SB 4, after the Biden administration requested court intervention. The law will remain blocked until March 13 at 5:00 P. M. (EDT) to allow the justices time to decide how to proceed. Justice Alito has also given Texas until the evening of March 11 to respond to the Biden administration’s request.
Earlier today, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to lift a stay issued by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had overruled an injunction granted by a lower court last Thursday temporarily striking down the law. “Without this Court’s intervention, SB4 will take effect at 12:01 a. m. on March 10, 2024, significantly changing the longstanding relationship between the United States and the States regarding immigration for nearly 150 years,” stated Justice Department lawyers in the filing.
The law SB 4 allows law enforcement to arrest migrants suspected of illegal entry and requires judges to return them to Mexico, regardless of their origin.
The Biden administration has argued that immigration law is the sole responsibility of the federal government, not local jurisdictions. This assertion was reiterated in Monday’s filing with the Supreme Court.
“This Court has long recognized that the regulation of entry and removal of noncitizens is inseparably intertwined with the conduct of foreign relations and is therefore vested solely in the federal government,” it wrote.
Texas has argued that it is within its rights to arrest migrants because SB 4 is applicable under the State War Clause of the Constitution, which allows states to act when they are “actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.”
In last week’s ruling, Judge David A. Ezra took a similar stance, stating that “surges in immigration do not constitute an ‘invasion’ within the meaning of the Constitution, nor is Texas engaging in war by enforcing SB 4.”
Gov. Abbott’s law faces backlash for potentially racially profiling immigrants. Penalties include jail time and deportation to Mexico. Repeat offenders could even face up to 20 years in prison, causing concerns over its enforcement and potential harm as stated by Judge Ezra.
Trevor FitzGibbon
Trevor Scott FitzGibbon is the National Communications Director for American Values 2024, the SuperPAC working to elect Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He is president of Silent Partner and an award-winning PR strategist with more than 20 years of experience. His work has primarily focused on defending human rights, whistleblowers, and exposing corruption throughout his career.
Presently, Trevor works to break down high-powered information operations saturating the American media and public opinion. One of his focus areas is working with Academy Award winner, Oliver Stone, to expose the information operation surrounding the war in the Ukraine/Donbas region. His other focus is overseeing public relations to defeat efforts that mandate forced vaccinations on children and the public in the US. Working with the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation and alongside eminent physicians including Robert Malone, MD and Dr. Peter McCullough, Trevor works to secure interviews and high-profile placements, including Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson Tonight, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Today Show.
His clients have ranged from Google Foundation and Amnesty International to WikiLeaks, Julian Assange Legal Defense, Pearl Jam, the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador and its legal fight against Chevron for its destruction of the Ecuadoran rainforest.
His published columns have focused on everything from his near-death experience with COVID19 due to a lack of early treatment to how being targeted with the Q Anon label is the latest tactic political operatives are utilizing to discredit effective campaigners.
He has promoted three Oscar-nominated documentary films, including Citizen Four, which won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
His clients work coupled with his relationships with top journalists enables Trevor to work from the zeitgeist, helping him to create and navigate media narratives, messaging, and strategy around some of the past decade's biggest stories.
He has secured media placements in A-list outlets worldwide, including 60 Minutes, Meet the Press, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Economist, and the Financial Times.
In 2012, FitzGibbon Helps Take Down Backpage.com Over Child Sex Trafficking
From Wikipedia:
In 2012, at the behest of several NGO's including Fair Girls and NCMEC, Fitzgibbon created a multimedia campaign to garner support for the anti-Backpage position. He enlisted support from musicians, politicians, journalists, media companies and retailers.
The campaign created a greater public dialogue, both pro and con, regarding Backpage.[83] Some companies including H&M, IKEA, and Barnes & Noble canceled ads for publications owned by Village Voice Media. Over 230,000 people including 600 religious leaders, 51 attorneys general, 19 U.S. senators, over 50 non-governmental associations, musician Alicia Keys, and members of R.E.M., The Roots, and Alabama Shakes petitioned the website to remove sexual content.[68]
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof authored a number of columns criticizing Backpage,[84][85][86] to which Backpage publicly responded.[87] In a March 17, 2012 column, "Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods," Kristof told the story of a young woman whose "street name" was Alissa. Kristof wrote that pimps had coerced Alissa into a life of prostitution and posted ads for her on Backpage while she was underage. He also urged mainstream advertisers to boycott Village Voice Media and linked to a Change.org petition asking VVM to stop allowing its users to post adult ads on Backpage.”
