US Department of Justice sues Texas over new state immigration law

Suit is aimed at stopping a law allowing police to detain people suspected of crossing the US border without authorization

The US Department of Justice has sued Texas and its Republican governor, Greg Abbott, to block a new and controversial state immigration law from going into effect.

After threatening the state with legal action after last year's passage of SB4, a new Texas law which allows state police to arrest any person they suspect has crossed the US-Mexico border without authorization, the justice department did so on Wednesday. Immigration and border control officially falls under the purview of the federal government - not individual states.