- The Supreme Court upheld Texas Senate Bill 4, allowing state officers to arrest individuals suspected of illegal entry.
- Law enforcement has arrested over 12,000 people since January 2026 under the broad state immigration measure.
- Immigrants are advised to invoke their right to silence and request judicial warrants during police encounters.
(TEXAS) — Texas is enforcing Senate Bill 4 in full in 2026 after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision on March 15, 2026, dismissed remaining challenges from the Biden-era Department of Justice and let the state keep arresting and prosecuting people suspected of crossing the border illegally between ports of entry.
The ruling cleared the way for Texas law enforcement agencies to apply one of the broadest state immigration enforcement measures in the country, with over 12,000 arrests under SB4 since January 2026, according to Texas Department of Public Safety reports. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the decision a “victory for states’ rights.”
SB4, enacted in 2023, gives Texas peace officers the power to arrest people they suspect entered the United States illegally between ports of entry. State courts can then prosecute those cases, while judges can order transport to a port of entry for voluntary return to Mexico, dropping charges for people who comply.
By January 1, 2026, earlier court blocks had fallen away. A 2024 federal district court halt and a partial Supreme Court stay in 2025 were overturned as federal courts shifted with new appointments, allowing full implementation of the law.
The measure now sits at the center of a wider push that links Texas Senate Bill 4 with federal immigration enforcement under the Trump administration’s 2025-2026 policies. Executive Order 14159, issued December 2025, prioritizes deportations, expands 287(g) programs for local-federal cooperation, and imposes economic penalties on sanctuary jurisdictions.
That federal alignment has widened SB4’s reach through ICE partnerships. Texas’s 2026 budget allocated $500 million to those partnerships and trained 2,500 local officers under 287(g) to identify and detain noncitizens.
People most affected include undocumented migrants and recent crossers along Texas’s 1,200-mile border with Mexico, where an estimated 150,000-200,000 unauthorized crossings occur annually based on 2026 CBP figures. First-time offenders face Class B misdemeanor charges, which carry up to 180 days in jail and $2,000 fine.
Repeat offenders face second-degree felony charges carrying 2-20 years imprisonment. Judges can instead direct people to return voluntarily through a port of entry, a process that handled 7,200 cases in Q1 2026 and eased pressure on local jails.
Asylum seekers and families have also come under heavier pressure. Those who bypass the CBP One app’s limited appointment system, now processing only 1,500 daily slots amid 2026 backlogs, are among the prime targets, while detention rates are up 35%.
Families with U.S.-citizen children face separation risks during arrests. RAICES reported 2,300 family separations tied to the law’s enforcement, while critics said the humanitarian costs have mounted in counties and cities already under strain.
Border counties including El Paso and Hidalgo have felt the effects most directly, but urban areas such as Houston and Dallas have also seen fallout. Mixed-status families, totaling 4.5 million in Texas, face deportation ripple effects as enforcement spreads beyond the border region.
Texas Department of Public Safety data also showed 15% of 2026 arrests involved U.S. citizens or green card holders who were later released. Those figures have intensified concerns about racial profiling, particularly as broader ICE operations expand under “Operation Secure Border” launched February 2026.
TPS and DACA holders are not direct targets under SB4, but the broader enforcement climate has still hit them. Since January 2026, heightened ICE raids under expanded priorities have led to 8,500 detentions of TPS beneficiaries from countries like Venezuela and Haiti, while stricter renewal reviews caused 22% denial rates.
DACA recipients have also reported workplace raids disrupting renewals. More than 100,000 DACA “Dreamers” live in Texas, where the program’s future remains under pressure as federal scrutiny increases.
Texas officers can arrest without federal warrants if they suspect someone recently entered the country illegally. Under the law, they can act during traffic stops or checkpoints based on “reasonable suspicion” and must bring those arrested before a magistrate within 48 hours.
State troopers, sheriffs, and local police all hold those powers, marking a shift from prior federal exclusivity in this area. Convictions in state court can trigger federal ICE handover for deportation.
SB4 does set limits on where arrests can happen. Schools, churches, hospitals, and sexual assault exam sites are protected zones, though officers can still arrest in adjacent areas.
Supporters of the law point to enforcement data they say shows results. CBP data for March 2026 recorded a 25% drop in apprehensions, a figure proponents cite as evidence the law is deterring crossings.
Legal fights over SB4 stretched across three years before the latest U.S. Supreme Court ruling settled the federal preemption challenge. U.S. District Judge David Ezra blocked the law in 2024, and the 5th Circuit partially upheld that halt.
The Supreme Court then allowed arrests to resume in 2025 amid what the court described as “emergency” border claims. In the March 15, 2026 ruling, the court rejected the preemption argument and distinguished SB4 from Arizona’s SB1070 by focusing on criminalization of entry rather than immigration status.
Dissenting justices warned of a “state-by-state patchwork.” That phrase has remained central to critics’ objections as new suits challenge how the law is being applied on the ground.
A federal probe into profiling claims began on April 1, 2026. Advocacy groups including the ACLU continue to monitor arrests and detention patterns for constitutional violations, even though no further appeals are pending over the law itself.
For immigrants stopped under SB4, constitutional protections remain in place. People can refuse to answer immigration questions and can say, “I invoke my right to remain silent.”
Texas law still requires drivers and passengers to give their name, DOB, and address verbally during stops, but not to disclose immigration status. That distinction has become one of the most repeated pieces of advice from legal aid groups helping families prepare for encounters with police and ICE.
People can also refuse consent to searches of homes and vehicles and demand a judicial warrant. ICE administrative warrants, including Form I-200, apply only to ICE facilities and not private property.
People arrested on state charges under SB4 can receive court-appointed counsel if they qualify. In ICE detention, private attorneys are allowed but the government does not provide them.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid advises immigrants to call 1-888-639-2444, and RAICES also operates hotlines. During 2026 ICE raids, which are up 60% and have increasingly targeted workplaces, legal advocates urge people to refuse entry without warrants and to record interactions if it is safe.
They also warn against using false documents. Providing fake papers can trigger federal felony charges under 2026 enhanced penalties.
SB4’s expansion comes amid broader federal changes that have hardened the national system. Proclamation 10998, issued in December 2025, suspended visas from 19 countries including Syria and Yemen effective January 1, 2026, and expanded to 75 nations’ immigrant visas by January 21.
That policy halted half of legal inflows, while ICE funding rose 30% and deportation priorities widened nationwide. H-1B reforms that imposed $100,000 fees and wage-based lotteries, along with tougher TPS and DACA reviews, added pressure across immigrant communities in Texas.
Asylum policy also shifted. The Dignity Act, effective February 2026, mandates 60-day processing, limits work permits, and pushed denials to 65%.
Texas has paired those federal changes with a non-sanctuary approach of its own. State laws passed in 2025 bar local non-cooperation, making it easier for local agencies to work with federal authorities and extend immigration enforcement deeper into daily policing.
Nationally, 2026 deportations reached 450,000, with 20% from Texas. In the state, removals are projected to hit 35,000 for FY2026, even as immigrant labor contributes $120 billion to state GDP.
Asylum waitlists now exceed 2 million, and TPS lapses affect 300,000. Those pressures have pushed many families to carry work permits, TPS approvals, and birth certificates for U.S. citizen children in case an encounter with officers turns into detention.
Community groups have urged immigrants to join alert networks and consult lawyers before any stop or hearing. Catholic Charities, Texas Civil Rights Project, AILA’s directory, and low-cost legal services through Justice40 have all become part of that preparation.
For many families, the legal shift has changed daily life as much as it has changed courtroom doctrine. With Texas Senate Bill 4 now fully in force, and the U.S. Supreme Court having upheld its core framework, immigrants across Texas are living under a system where a traffic stop, a checkpoint, or a workplace raid can quickly become an immigration case.
