*A federal appeals court has halted a Texas law empowering state law enforcement to arrest suspected illegal border crossers.
The move came Tuesday evening, hours after the Supreme Court allowed the law, SB 4, signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), to take effect. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay before Wednesday’s oral arguments, The Hill reports.
The conservative majority on the Supreme Court dismissed an emergency application from the Biden administration, contending that the law infringes on federal authority. Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed concern that the statute would exacerbate “further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement.”
Per CNN, “The law makes crossing the border illegally a crime in the Lone Star State and enables local law enforcement to arrest those suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, before facing deportation to Mexico or jail time,” the outlet writes.
Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent that the law “upends the federal-state balance of power that has existed for over a century, in which the National Government has had exclusive authority over entry and removal of noncitizens.”
The Supreme Court refrained from ruling on the constitutionality of law SB 4, referring the matter to the appellate court, which issued its decision on Tuesday evening, according to The Hill.
Opponents of the legislation argue that SB 4 may result in instances of racial profiling.
Per The Hill, the White House called the law “another example of Republican officials politicizing the border while blocking real solutions.”
Meanwhile, Mexico said it would not “under any circumstances” accept the return of illegals from Texas, The Associated Press reported.
“Mexico reiterates the legitimate right to protect the rights of its nationals in the United States and to determine its own policies regarding entry into its territory,” the Mexican government said, per the AP.
