Trump DOJ Drops Biden-Era Legal Challenge to Texas Border Security Law

The Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has officially dropped a legal challenge initiated during the Biden administration against a Texas immigration law. This law empowers state and local police to arrest individuals suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas.

The DOJ's voluntary dismissal of the federal government's challenge to the Texas law, known as SB 4, was filed on Tuesday. However, the legal battle isn’t over just yet. Two immigrant rights groups, American Gateways and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, are continuing their own lawsuits, with a trial scheduled for July, according to reports.

Texas' controversial SB 4, enacted in 2023, makes it a state crime to cross the border illegally into Texas. It grants local law enforcement the authority to arrest individuals caught in the act and imposes criminal penalties for those who admit to illegal border crossings. Interestingly, the law also includes a provision allowing judges to drop charges if a migrant agrees to return to Mexico voluntarily.

State lawmakers argued that the legislation was a necessary response to what they termed lax border security policies under President Joe Biden. Unsurprisingly, the Biden administration fired back, asserting that SB 4 violated the U.S. Constitution by encroaching on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate immigration.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton had previously written to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, labeling the law as unconstitutional and a disruption to federal operations. Abbott, however, went on to sign SB 4 into law, igniting the current legal disputes.

Meanwhile, the border situation has seen a stark turnaround since President Trump assumed office. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents reported just over 8,000 migrant encounters at the southwest border in February 2025—a jaw-dropping 90% plummet compared to the previous year. The silence along the border is as eerie as it is politically potent, with the numbers seemingly validating the administration’s hardline approach.