Shortly after the Supreme Court allowed a Texas law that empowered state law enforcement to arrest individuals believed to be entering the country illegally to be enacted, a federal appeals court ordered a temporary halt to it.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order issued the stay on Tuesday evening, ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Wednesday.
Earlier, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court denied an urgent request from the Biden administration, which claimed the law violates federal authority.
The three liberal judges publicly dissented from the court's decision that allowed the statute, S.B. 4, to be enforced. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson stated that the statute could lead to “further chaos and crisis” in immigration enforcement.
The law, approved by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), criminalizes illegal immigration in the Lone Star State and authorizes local law enforcement to apprehend those suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, possibly resulting in deportation to Mexico or imprisonment.
The Supreme Court did not address the law's constitutionality. Instead, it referred the issue to the appellate court, which subsequently made the decision on Tuesday evening.
Opponents of the bill believe it has the potential to result in civil rights abuses and racial profiling.
Mexico has also declined to accept deportations of individuals other than Mexican citizens, stating that it will not accept the return of migrants from Texas, as per The Associated Press. The Mexican government commented, per the AP, that “Mexico reaffirms its legitimate right to safeguard the rights of its citizens in the United States and to establish its own policies on entry into its territory.”
On Tuesday, the White House criticized the law as “another instance of Republican officials leveraging the border while obstructing genuine solutions.”
During the brief period when the law was in force, Texas authorities did not report any arrests.
Hours after the Supreme Court allowed a Texas law that granted state law enforcement the power to arrest individuals they suspect are entering the country unlawfully, a federal appeals court issued an order to put it on hold. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made the ruling late Tuesday evening. The…
