A new Texas law that allows police officers to arrest suspected illegal immigrants could take effect on Sunday.
The law has undergone many twists and turns in recent days, first being blocked by a federal court, but the ruling was overturned on appeal over the weekend, paving the way for it to go into effect on March 10.
but The Biden administration filed an appeal on Monday. Request the Supreme Court to hear the case. If they choose to enter a judgment, they must decide whether it is upheld or set aside.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who signed the bill into law in December, welcomed the appeals court’s reversal.
“Texas law enforcement officers now have the power to arrest and jail illegal immigrants who cross the border,” Abbott wrote on Monday As long as,” he added.
The law, known as SB4, gives local police and the Texas Department of Public Safety the power to detain anyone suspected of entering the country illegally, and if found to have done so, they can face state charges. This means that you can effectively choose between the two. Go to jail or leave the country voluntarily.
Opponents of the law, including the Justice Department and civil rights groups, argue that border issues are under federal jurisdiction and not for individual states to decide.
In his ruling blocking the law, Judge David Ezra wrote that the law would interfere with the federal government’s authority under the U.S. Constitution to enforce immigration laws and immigrants’ ability to apply for asylum, and that it would interfere with “the foreign relations and treaty obligations of the United States. agreed to “damage the obligations of.” ”
Mr. Ezra also rejected Mr. Abbott’s oft-repeated claim that the increase in migrants crossing the border amounts to an “invasion.”
“Even if a small number of immigrants admit to drug trafficking or affiliation with cartels, the state of Texas truly asserts that the non-citizens who cross its borders are an organized force intent on conquest and plunder,” the Ezra decision said. It is not possible,” it says.
Texas immediately appealed the ruling, with Abbott furious, saying, “We will not back down from the fight to protect our state and our nation from President Biden’s border crisis.”
The Supreme Court previously heard a similar appeal against the Arizona law in 2012, ultimately striking down the law in favor of the federal government’s argument that all immigration matters are the responsibility of the federal government.
The court’s decision comes at a critical time, when the number of immigrants living in the United States is expected to surge to 8 million by the end of September. This is an astonishing 167% increase over five years.
