Texas Deportation Law Stays Blocked Until Appeal Is Resolved (1)

An appeals court extended a block on a Texas law that would let the state arrest and deport people who enter the country illegally, giving the Biden administration a win in a fast-moving legal fight with sweeping implications for US immigration policies.

Voting 2-1 in a ruling late Tuesday, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said it will keep the law on hold until it resolves the state’s challenge to a ruling by a lower-court judge who said the measure conflicts with federal immigration law.

Writing for the court, Chief Judge Priscilla Richman said there is little doubt that immigration enforcement is at the discretion of the federal government. She said this remains the case, despite a “failure of Congress to spend the funds necessary to address the massive increases in the number of noncitizens illegally entering the United States.”

“Texas, nobly and admirably some would say, seeks to fill at least partially the gaping void,” Richman said. “But it is unlikely that Texas can step into the shoes of the national sovereign under our Constitution and laws.”

The legal fight over the law has resulted in procedural whiplash and confusion in Texas, where state leaders have offered little guidance about how the measure might be enforced if the courts ultimately allow it to go into effect.

Read More: Texas Deportation Law Gets Skeptical Reception From Key Judge

The law, known as SB4, grants state officials the power to arrest, detain and deport people who enter the country illegally. Texas argues the law is necessary to address the influx of people crossing the border, in the face of what state officials view as inaction by the federal government. The Biden administration says the law would be an unprecedented intrusion on federal power to set immigration policy and impede their efforts at the border.

The appeals court found that the state law is likely to impede on the systems already in place by the federal government to process the removal of people in the country illegally.

“This system is comprehensive, complex, and national in scope,” Richman said. “It is evident that the Texas entry and removal laws significantly eliminate the exercise of discretion by federal immigration officials, including the United States Attorney General.”

The 5th Circuit will next consider the state’s appeal of a February decision by US District Judge David Ezra to block the law, which he said would “amount to nullification of federal law and authority.” Oral arguments on the appeal are scheduled for April 3.

The legal fight thus far continues to be about whether the law — or a portion of it — should be permitted to go into effect while the legal challenges against it proceed. The federal government, a border county in Texas and immigrant rights groups sued to block the law in two separate lawsuits that have been consolidated.

(Updates throughout with details from decision.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Madlin Mekelburg in Austin at mmekelburg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net;
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg, Steve Stroth

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