A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper watches a group of migrants who turned themselves in to authorities in August under the Eagle Pass International Bridge in Eagle Pass. (Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News/TNS)

AUSTIN — The U.S. Justice Department has dropped its lawsuit against Texas’ Senate Bill 4, a 2023 state law that gave the state a role in arresting and deporting undocumented migrants.

Justice Department officials announced the decision in a late-night filing Tuesday. However, the case against Texas continues as private parties — El Paso County and two migrant advocacy groups — fight the state over the law.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra anticipated President Donald Trump’s Justice Department might drop the case in a Jan. 30 filing in which he set a July 8 trial date. Trump campaigned on launching the largest deportation operation in the country’s history, and Texas state leaders are willing participants in helping his administration carry out its immigration crackdown.

The Justice Department and Gov. Greg Abbott did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The Justice Department’s decision to drop the case is “great news for Texas,” said Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, who was the House sponsor of SB 4.

“The fight for Texans to be able to protect and secure our sovereignty is looming, but I have never felt better about our position,” Spiller wrote on social media Tuesday night. “Bring it.”

Despite the Justice Department’s decision, SB 4 will not go into effect. The law is blocked from being enforced following multiple rulings in district and appeals courts.

SB 4 created new state crimes for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. It also established a state-initiated removal process, allowing migrants convicted of illegal entry or reentry from a foreign nation to be deported after serving their state sentence.

Migrants could be removed without a conviction under SB 4 if a judge or magistrate determined they likely entered or reentered the country illegally. The charge can be dismissed with a written order requiring the migrant to return to the country “from which the person entered or attempted to enter.”

The Justice Department under President Joe Biden sued Texas in January 2024 — a month after Abbott signed the law. Biden officials argued that the law was unconstitutional as the federal government is responsible for enforcing federal immigration laws.