Texas has won a legal skirmish in its efforts to make it a state crime to be in the country illegally.
On Saturday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order countermanding a U.S. District Court judge’s decision that issued a preliminary injunction to block a Texas law allowing state authorities to arrest illegal immigrants.
The order said that the stay on the lower court’s order will not go into effect for seven days, allowing the federal government the chance to appeal the ruling. The only place left to appeal is to the U.S. Supreme Court. Without an appeal, the law would take effect on March 9.
BREAKING: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a block on Senate Bill 4, designed to arrest individuals for illegal border crossing into Texas.
The law, signed by Gov. Abbott, could take effect this weekend unless halted by the Supreme Court.
SB4 makes… pic.twitter.com/i6XIeF12O2
— Hank (@GCapital_LLC) March 4, 2024
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SB 4 creates the Class B misdemeanor of crossing the border illegally. Offenders can be jailed for up to six months. Repeat offenders could be charged with a felony and spend between two to 20 years behind bars, according to the Texas Tribune.
Under the law, state courts must order convicted illegal immigrants to leave the state, although charges would be dropped if an illegal immigrant leaves voluntarily.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted his reaction on X.
Is there a crisis at the southern border?
“Federal appeals court allows Texas immigration law to take effect. Law enforcement officers in Texas are now authorized to arrest & jail any illegal immigrants crossing the border,” he wrote.
BREAKING HUGE NEWS
Federal appeals court allows Texas immigration law to take effect.
Law enforcement officers in Texas are now authorized to arrest & jail any illegal immigrants crossing the border. https://t.co/TW6MkLUXT7
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 4, 2024
Last week, U.S. District Judge David Ezra had said the law could not take effect even as legal challenges went on because the Biden administration, which opposes the law, was likely to win the court battle over the law, according to Reuters.
Ezra said a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision on an immigrant law provided a precedent to reject the Texas law.
Ezra wrote, “If allowed to proceed, SB 4 could open the door to each state passing its own version of immigration laws,” according to CNN.
Abbott launched the appeal, saying, “We will not back down in our fight to protect our state — and our nation — from President Biden’s border crisis.”
New: The U.5. 5th Circuit issued a temporary stay on a federal district judge’s ruling yesterday, allowing Texas’s new border security law, #SB4 to be enforced when it goes into effect tomorrow. The law allows state police to arrest illegal aliens on criminal trespass charges. pic.twitter.com/qgNOiumRFA
— Matt Stringer (@WestTxStringer) March 4, 2024
Republican state Rep. David Spiller, who sponsored SB4 in the state House, applauded the ruling, according to the Texas Scorecard.
“In my opinion, the preliminary injunction should not have been granted because the DOJ failed to prove that they were likely to succeed on the merits, and that the implementation of SB4 would have inflicted irreparable harm to the United States — both requisite steps for the issuance of a temporary injunction,” he said.
“I believe SB4 is completely constitutional because it is not in conflict with the precedent set in the Arizona v. United States case, it’s not preempted by existing federal immigration law, it’s not in conflict with existing federal immigration law, and Texas has the absolute constitutional right, authority and ability to protect and secure its borders and its sovereignty,” he said.
