The Supreme Court, on Monday, extended once again its hold on a Texas law granting state and local law enforcement the authority to detain and state judges the power to deport undocumented immigrants.
Justice Samuel Alito, representing the Supreme Court, signed off on this extension. This action marks the second extension since last Tuesday, when the initial extension was set until March 18.
The administrative stay was first issued by Alito on March 4, following a ruling by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling aimed to enable Texas Senate Bill 4 (S.B. 4) to take effect while the appellate court deliberates on its legality.
Alito’s decision stemmed from handling emergency applications originating from the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In response to the emergency appeal filed by the Biden administration, which decried the law as an “unprecedented intrusion into federal immigration enforcement,” Alito issued the second stay.
This occurred after the Fifth Circuit overturned a lower court’s decision on March 2, which had blocked S.B. 4, citing infringement on federal immigration enforcement authority.
S.B. 4 empowers state and local law enforcement to apprehend undocumented immigrants crossing the Texas border from Mexico outside of designated entry points. Signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in December, S.B. 4 permits charging illegal immigrants with state misdemeanors or felonies, particularly if they commit additional offenses or fail to comply with judicial orders. Penalties under the legislation range from one to 20 years of imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense.
Furthermore, the law grants state judges the authority to deport undocumented immigrants to Mexico if deemed more appropriate than pursuing federal prosecution.
Alito’s recent extension of the stay is indefinite, effective until a “further order” from him or the Supreme Court. Defenders of the law, along with Texas officials, have countered the Department of Justice’s assertions regarding federal power usurpation. They have also taken decisive measures in response to the ongoing border crisis, which Governor Abbott explicitly labeled as an “invasion.”
The federal government is additionally contesting Texas’s deployment of buoy barriers and concertina wire as physical deterrents against illegal border crossings. Texas implemented these measures last year under Operation Lone Star.
In late February, U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra halted Texas’s enforcement of S.B. 4. The Fifth Circuit subsequently suspended this ruling at Texas’s request before Alito twice suspended the appellate court’s order. Arguments regarding the merits of S.B. 4 are scheduled to be heard by the Fifth Circuit on April 3.
