Appeals court puts controversial Texas immigration law back on hold

CNN
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A federal appeals court put Texas’ controversial immigration law back on hold late Tuesday night, hours after the Supreme Court gave the state a path to begin enforcing the measure.

In a short order, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an earlier ruling by another panel that temporarily enforced a law allowing state authorities to arrest and detain people. It was voted 1-1 to have it deleted. Suspicion of illegal entry is growing.

The panel of judges who issued the order Tuesday night was already scheduled to hear arguments Wednesday morning on Texas’ request to put Senate Bill 4 back into effect pending the state’s appeal of a federal judge’s injunction against the law. There is.

One of the circuit judges, Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, publicly dissented and said he intended to keep the law in place for now.

“I intend to leave it at that until tomorrow’s oral argument on this matter,” he wrote.

Regardless of what the 5th Circuit acts after Wednesday’s arguments, the appeals court is expected to hear arguments again next month on whether the law is unconstitutional and should be blocked indefinitely.

The legal battle over SB 4 has made its way to the Supreme Court, which cleared the way for the bill to go into effect early Tuesday after the justices rejected an emergency appeal from the Biden administration and others. The decision marks a temporary but important victory for Texas, which has been battling the Biden administration over immigration policy.

Hours later, the appeals court scheduled oral arguments on whether to block the law while considering legal challenges to it. The court has set Wednesday’s virtual oral argument for 11 a.m. ET.

SB4, signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in December, makes illegal entry into Texas a state crime and allows state judges to order immigrants’ deportation. Immigration enforcement is typically a federal government function.

The law immediately raised concerns among immigrant advocates in Texas, where Latinos make up 40% of the population, about increased racial profiling and attempts by state authorities to detain or deport them.

A federal judge in Austin last month blocked the state from enforcing the law, saying it “could pave the way for states to pass their own immigration laws.”

The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices also expressed concern about the law, dissenting from the high court’s order Tuesday that allowed it to take effect briefly.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose dissent was joined by fellow liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the order would “invite further confusion and crisis in immigration enforcement.”

In his dissent, Sotomayor said the law “upends the balance of federal and state power that has existed for more than a century, in which national governments had exclusive authority over the entry and removal of noncitizens. ” he wrote.

The case could soon reach the Supreme Court.

This story has been updated with additional developments.