Texas Senate Bill 4, often called the “show me your papers” law, makes it a state crime for a noncitizen to cross into Texas from another country anywhere other than an official port of entry, and it lets Texas peace officers arrest people they suspect of doing so. Signed after a special legislative session in late 2023, the law has been blocked and unblocked repeatedly by federal courts. As of late May 2026, a Fifth Circuit order lifted the most recent injunction, and SB 4 is enforceable while a new class-action challenge moves forward.
The Crimes SB 4 Creates
SB 4 adds Chapter 51 to the Texas Penal Code and creates two offenses that had previously existed only under federal immigration law.
Illegal Entry
A noncitizen who crosses into Texas directly from another country at any point other than a lawful port of entry commits illegal entry. A first offense is a Class B misdemeanor and carries up to 180 days in county jail. A second offense becomes a state jail felony punishable by 180 days to two years in a state jail facility.1State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 51.02
Illegal Reentry
A separate, more serious offense applies to anyone who reenters Texas after being formally denied admission, deported, or removed from the United States. The base charge is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to twenty years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 12.33 Prior criminal history can push the charge higher. Even without aggravators, a reentry conviction carries mandatory prison time measured in years.
Who Can Make an Arrest and Where
Any Texas peace officer with probable cause can arrest a person for illegal entry or reentry. That covers state troopers, local police, sheriff’s deputies, and other commissioned officers. The arrest authority is statewide, not limited to the border. An officer in Dallas or Houston has the same power under Chapter 51 as one in Laredo or El Paso.
The law also carves out three categories of places where officers cannot arrest or detain someone for a Chapter 51 offense:
- Public and private primary and secondary schools used for educational purposes.
- Established places of religious worship, including churches and synagogues.
- Hospitals, clinics, state-operated health facilities, and healthcare provider offices, so long as the person is on the premises to receive medical treatment.
The healthcare protection has a condition the others don’t. The person has to actually be there for treatment. Someone in a hospital parking lot for another purpose is not shielded.3LegiScan. Texas Senate Bill 4 Enrolled Text
SB 4 also protects officers who enforce it. State and local officials, employees, and contractors have immunity from state-law liability for actions taken under Chapter 51 or in carrying out a judicial return order, and local governments must indemnify their officers in federal lawsuits within statutory caps. Immunity does not apply if a court finds the officer acted in bad faith, with conscious indifference, or recklessly.4Texas Legislature Online. SB 4 Enrolled Bill Text
Defenses to Illegal Entry
The illegal entry statute includes several affirmative defenses. The defendant carries the burden of proving one applies. A person cannot be convicted if the federal government granted them lawful presence or asylum, or if their conduct would not violate the federal illegal entry statute at 8 U.S.C. § 1325. People approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals between June 15, 2012, and July 16, 2021, also have a defense.1State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 51.02
Two programs are specifically excluded from qualifying as a defense: Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), and any successor program materially similar to DACA that was not enacted by Congress.1State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 51.02
Return Orders Instead of Prosecution
Article 5B.002 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure lets a magistrate order a defendant to leave the country instead of continuing through the criminal case. The order is not something a judge imposes on their own. The person has to consent, and they qualify only if they have no prior Chapter 51 convictions, have never received a prior discharge order, and are not currently charged with a Class A misdemeanor or anything more serious.3LegiScan. Texas Senate Bill 4 Enrolled Text
Before the order can issue, the arresting agency must take the person’s fingerprints and other biometric data and run them against local, state, and federal criminal databases and federal national security threat lists.3LegiScan. Texas Senate Bill 4 Enrolled Text
Accepting a return order and then refusing to leave is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to twenty years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.5State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 51.042State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 12.33 That is the same range as a reentry conviction, so someone who agrees to leave and then comes back faces the same potential sentence as a person prosecuted for reentry outright.
Higher Penalties for Human Smuggling
SB 4 also rewrote the human smuggling statute at Texas Penal Code § 20.05. The base smuggling of persons offense is now a third-degree felony with a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. It rises to a second-degree felony, still with a 10-year minimum, if the smuggled person faced a substantial risk of serious injury or death, was a child under 18, or if the smuggler was armed or acting for financial gain.6LegiScan. Texas Senate Bill 4 Bill Text – 88th Legislature 3rd Special Session
If a smuggled person suffered serious bodily injury, died, or was sexually assaulted as a direct result of the offense, the charge becomes a first-degree felony with a 10-year mandatory minimum. Continuous smuggling carries the same mandatory floors at the second- and first-degree levels.6LegiScan. Texas Senate Bill 4 Bill Text – 88th Legislature 3rd Special Session
Operating a stash house went from a Class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony with a five-year mandatory minimum. It becomes a second-degree felony, still with the five-year floor, if the stash house facilitated continuous smuggling or trafficking, or if someone inside suffered serious injury, death, or sexual assault.7Texas Legislature Online. SB 4 Bill Analysis One narrow escape valve exists. If a defendant convicted of the third-degree smuggling offense cooperates significantly with law enforcement, the prosecutor can certify that cooperation to reduce the 10-year minimum to five.
Where the Law Stands in Court
Whether Texas can create its own version of federal immigration crimes is the central legal question. The federal government has argued that immigration enforcement belongs exclusively to Washington under the Supremacy Clause. A federal district court agreed and blocked SB 4, holding that Congress occupies the entire field of immigration law and that SB 4 conflicts with federal enforcement in specific ways: it gives state officers immigration-related powers without federal supervision, strips federal officers of discretion over priorities, and directs state judges to proceed even when federal immigration proceedings are pending.8Congress.gov. Federal Preemption and Texas S.B. 4
The litigation history since then has been unusually tangled. A federal district court entered a preliminary injunction shortly before the law’s original effective date in early 2024. In July 2024, a Fifth Circuit panel affirmed that injunction on preemption grounds. Texas sought rehearing, and in August 2024 the full Fifth Circuit agreed to hear the case en banc, which vacated the panel opinion.9Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. S.B. 4 Information
On April 24, 2026, the en banc Fifth Circuit ruled 10-7 that the original plaintiffs (immigrant advocacy organizations and El Paso County) lacked Article III standing, and it vacated the preliminary injunction. The court did not decide whether SB 4 is constitutional. It held only that those particular challengers could not bring the suit.9Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. S.B. 4 Information
A new class-action lawsuit, LML v. Martin, was filed on May 4, 2026, in the Western District of Texas. On May 14, 2026, the district court granted a preliminary injunction blocking four provisions: the reentry offense, the magistrate return-order process, the penalty for refusing a return order, and the requirement that state courts proceed even when federal immigration proceedings are pending. On May 29, 2026, the Fifth Circuit lifted that injunction. SB 4 is enforceable while the new case works through the courts. The first-time illegal entry offense was not among the provisions the district court had blocked, so it has faced fewer direct obstacles.
No federal appeals court has yet issued a final ruling on whether SB 4 actually violates the Constitution. The new case raises many of the same preemption arguments with plaintiffs who may be found to have stronger standing, and the answer will shape how much room states have to build their own immigration enforcement systems.