In a stunning turnabout from just 24 hours earlier, the Supreme Court has agreed to let a Texas immigration law take effect, so that state law enforcement officers soon can arrest, detain and deport those suspected of entering Texas from Mexico illegally.
The Austin American-Statesman explains the court in a divided decision let the state law move forward to enforcement, even though it had extended a hold on the plan just a day earlier.
The order on Tuesday said SB 4 can take effect while the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers what opponents and critics cite as constitutional challenges to the plan.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and an ardent opponent, blasted the justices.
“By enabling the Fifth Circuit’s disingenuous procedural jurisprudence, the United States Supreme Court undermines its own credibility,” he claimed.
He called the law “an alarming state overreach that will likely lead to massive civil rights violations across our state.”
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law in December, and it was to take effect March 5, but the U.S. Justice Department and civil rights groups submitted in court their claims about its constitutionality, the publication reported.
Abbott said the latest move was, in fact, “a positive development.”
It sets up penalties for those who are suspected of crossing into the U.S. in Texas through any path other than an international port of entry.
“The penalties range from a Class B misdemeanor to a second-degree felony. The law allows state police to arrest migrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally and to force them to accept a magistrate judge’s deportation order or face stiffer criminal penalties,” the publication reported.
A lower court judge earlier had complained that it was an attempt by the state to enforce immigration laws that should be the responsibility of the federal government.
Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, said the ruling is a win.
“Texas has defeated the Biden Administration’s and ACLU’s emergency motions at the Supreme Court,” he said on social media. “Our immigration law, SB 4, is now in effect. As always, it’s my honor to defend Texas and its sovereignty, and to lead us to victory in court.”
The constitutional concerns still await resolution, but it was the three liberals on the high court, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Jackson — who said they would not have let the law become effective.
The report explained the Texas Public Policy Foundation said, “The bill achieves three major ends: it defends Texas communities, it asserts Texas’ legitimate constitutional powers, and it signals that the old era—in which the federal government acts more vigorously against states defending their citizenry than it does against the state-cartel threat from the southern border—is over.”
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