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The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decided late Tuesday to keep in place a ban on the implementation of SB 4, a law that makes it a state crime to enter Texas illegally from Mexico. In a 2-1 decision, the judges ruled against Texas’s request to suspend an injunction put in place by a lower court in February.
The decision comes after judges heard oral arguments on March 20 to determine whether to allow SB 4 to go into effect while the court decides on its legality. The day before, the Supreme Court briefly allowed the law to go into effect. The federal appeals court then halted the law and scheduled oral arguments.
Chief Judge Priscilla Richman, who was appointed by George W. Bush, wrote that the law should remain blocked because immigration enforcement falls exclusively to the federal government.
In his dissenting opinion, Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, said he would have granted the stay.
“To take from Texas its sovereign prerogative to enact a law that its people and its leaders want, plaintiffs must show that SB 4 is unconstitutional in every one of its potential applications. Plaintiffs likely cannot make that showing,” Oldham wrote.
The ACLU of Texas, one of the organizations that challenged the law, welcomed the decision.
“SB 4 is cruel, harmful, and blatantly illegal under 150 years of Supreme Court precedent. We welcome today’s decision and will keep fighting to end SB 4 once and for all,” said Cody Wofsy deputy project director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a Wednesday press release.
SB 4 makes entering Texas illegally a Class B misdemeanor and gives all Texas peace officers the power to make arrests. The law also gives a judge or county magistrate the ability to order a person to return to Mexico.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who did not immediately issue a statement on the court’s decision, has previously said that the law is necessary to keep Texans safe.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has a hearing on April 3 to determine the law’s legality.
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