Since the early days of the Biden administration, Texas and the federal government have constantly butted heads over immigration policy and who has the authority to shape it — airing hostilities in the press, in the courts, and on the ground.
This landing page hosts three white papers that together provide an overview of the ongoing conflict between Texas and the Biden administration, highlighting some of the most impactful battles along the many fronts where the state has challenged the federal government’s power over immigration. The papers highlight several elements of the battle for control over immigration enforcement between Texas and the federal government, illuminating larger impacts of Texas’s actions on the national conversation around newcomers to this country.
- Texas v. the Biden Administration: How Recent Lawsuits Have Redefined the Federal Immigration Agenda focuses on how Texas’s leaders have strategically and successfully used litigation to shape federal policies on interior enforcement and border security.
- Operation Lone Star: Texas’s Logistical and Political Fireball unpacks the consequences of Texas’s controversial Operation Lone Star enforcement initiative, including its impact on the federal government, cities in the U.S. interior, Texas border communities, and migrants themselves.
- Where Texas Goes, the Nation Follows: State Legislatures and Immigration Enforcement considers the legacy of last year’s Texas legislative sessions, which produced groundbreaking – and problematic – immigration legislation redefining federal control over immigration, raising serious constitutional questions and generating a slew of copycat laws from other state legislatures across the country.