A federal appeals court extended its hold on a new Texas law, Senate Bill 4, that makes illegal immigration a state crime.
In a 2-1 vote, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law cannot go into effect while litigation continues.
"For nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has held that the power to control immigration — the entry, admission, and removal of noncitizens—is exclusively a federal power," wrote Judge Priscilla Richman.
Despite Texas’s criticisms about the federal government’s “actions and inactions” on the border, it is the president’s job to determine “whether, and if so, how to pursue noncitizens illegally present in the United States,” Richman added, reports NBC.
Lawyers for the state could seek emergency action by the Supreme Court. Or they could let the decision stand and wait for arguments, set for April 3, over the substance of the law and whether the injunction was appropriately ordered.
The decision marked the latest development in a back-and-forth legal drama over the law, known as Senate Bill 4 or S.B. 4, a sweeping effort by Texas to create a state-level system of immigration enforcement in direct challenge to the federal government.
The law briefly went into effect this month amid a series of procedural rulings that made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A few hours later, an order by the Fifth Circuit panel again blocked its implementation. (The New York Times)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has argued the law, which allows the state to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, is necessary because of the Biden administration's "deliberate inaction" at the border, leaving the state to “fend for itself."
