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A federal appeals court moved late Tuesday to erase a previous order that had allowed Texas’ strict new anti-illegal immigration law to take effect, once again putting it on ice.
The three-judge panel acted hours after the Supreme Court had ended its own blockade, clearing the way for the state to start carrying out the law. Under the new late-night action, the law is once again subject to a court injunction, meaning it’s back on hold.
The confusing legal wrangling comes just hours before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to hear arguments over the law and whether it should be allowed to operate while the case winds its way through the courts.
“Oral argument is scheduled on March 20, 2024, to consider the Appellants’ Motion to Stay Preliminary Injunction Pending Appeal. A majority of the panel has concluded that the administrative stay entered by a motions panel on March 2, 2024, should be lifted,” the court said in an unsigned order.
One of the three judges dissented, saying he would have left the stay in place — and allowed Texas’s law to take effect — at least until the court hears the arguments Wednesday.
The law, known as SB4, creates state crimes for illegal immigrants and tries to set up a state deportation system. The goal is to give state authorities powers similar to what the federal government has, so that the state can act aggressively to make up for the Biden administration’s more relaxed approach to the border.
The law has sparked intense debate with backers saying Texas has to have powers to protect itself from an “invasion” of migrants, and opponents calling the law cruel, discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Mexico has said it won’t cooperate in taking back illegal immigrants the state is trying to deport.
A federal district judge ruled the law trampled on federal powers and issued an injunction halting it. One three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit put that injunction on hold through what’s known as an administrative stay, or a blockade on a ruling while a court sorts out its docket.
The Supreme Court had, in turn, put that stay on hold, but ended the hold Tuesday afternoon in a 6-3 ruling.
Prodded by that decision and the words of some justices, a different panel of 5th Circuit judges deleted the appeals court’s own stay, so the original injunction is back in effect. This new panel of appeals court judges is now considering a more enduring ruling, known as a stay pending appeal, that could block the injunction — thus freeing Texas’s law to take effect again — while the case is awaiting a full decision.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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