Federal appeals court to allow controversial Texas immigration law to take effect, if SCOTUS doesn’t intervene

A federal appeals court granted a temporary stay of a lower court’s decision to block the enforcement of a controversial Texas immigration law, paving the way for it to go into effect this week if the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene.

Last week, a federal judge in Austin, Texas, blocked the state government from implementing Senate Bill 4, which would allow state law enforcement authorities to arrest and detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally.

Judge David Alan Ezra wrote in his Thursday decision to halt the law that “If allowed to proceed, SB 4 could open the door to each state passing its own version of immigration laws.”

Texas appealed the ruling, with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott saying, “We will not back down in our fight to protect our state — and our nation — from President Biden’s border crisis.”

Over the weekend, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of Ezra’s decision but put its ruling on hold for seven days, allowing time for the Biden administration to go to the Supreme Court.

The law remains blocked only until March 9 unless the Supreme Court keeps it on hold. It was originally set to go into effect March 5.
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