Supreme Court Allows Texas to Enforce Immigration Law

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court permitted Texas to temporarily implement a controversial new law that permits local police to detain migrants.

SB4, the law at issue, punishes migrants who enter the United States illegally and permits authorities to initiate arrests and detain them.

Additionally, it would give state judges the authority to order people deported to Mexico.

An emergency request by the Biden administration, which claimed that states had no authority to enact immigration laws because the federal government alone has jurisdiction over the matter, was denied by the conservative-majority court, with three liberal justices dissenting.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas lauded the court order, describing it as “clearly a positive development,” he also noted that the legal struggle is still ongoing.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the legislation “will not only make communities in Texas less safe, it will also burden law enforcement and sow chaos and confusion at our southern border.”

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated in a dissenting opinion that the legislation “gives a green light to a law that will upend the longstanding federal-state balance of power and sow chaos.”

Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson also argued the ruling.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative justice, wrote a separate note pointing out that an appeals court has yet to weigh in on the matter.

She stated, “If a decision does not issue soon, the applicants may return to this court,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a fellow conservative, agreed with her viewpoint. The conservative majority on the court is 6-3.

A spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety stated that the law’s enforcement does not yet have an official start date.

According to Lt. Chris Olivarez, the state officials have been preparing for its execution for some months but are now debating certain specifics.

Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez of Val Verde County, which is located near the border between the United States and Mexico, stated that his small force with three deputies on duty around the clock for a 3,145 square mile county home to 47,586 people—will not start performing arrests of migrants until he receives instructions from the state.

He stated on Tuesday, “I think that we all are in uncharted waters,”

He claimed that if he were given the duty of enforcing the new law, he would need extra deputies and jail space.

Noting that “the subject of immigration generally, and the entry and removal of noncitizens particularly, are matters long thought the special province of the federal government”

Kagan said in a separate opinion that Texas law appeared to conflict with federal law.

The Biden administration sued, and a federal judge halted the law.

However, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans stated in a brief order that the law might take effect on March 10 if the Supreme Court decides not to get involved.

The federal government has asked the appeals court to block the law, but the court still needs to decide.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located in New Orleans, expedited oral arguments over the Biden administration’s attempt to thwart the law in response to the Supreme Court’s order.

A decision might be made soon because arguments are scheduled for today’s (Wednesday) morning.

This dispute is the most recent disagreement concerning immigration enforcement.