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Immigrant rights groups barely had time to celebrate an injunction blocking a Texas law making it a state crime to enter the state illegally before it was time to gear up again for the next legal showdown.
On Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled an injunction granted by a lower court just two days earlier. The ruling came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately appealed the Feb. 29 preliminary injunction, saying that “Texas has a clear right to defend itself from the drug smugglers, human traffickers, cartels, and legions of illegal aliens crossing into our State.”
The Biden administration moved swiftly in response on Monday. It asked the Supreme Court to vacate the appellate court’s decision, citing a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that determined immigration enforcement falls to the federal government. The Supreme Court then issued its own stay until March 13 while the justices further deliberate.
Immigrant rights groups had braced for a long legal battle over the law known as SB 4. They were unprepared for the legal whiplash.
“We warned people that this would be a long process, but apparently the Fifth Circuit took it upon itself to hastily move this law forward,” Cesar Espinosa, executive director of Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha, known as FIEL, said in a statement Monday. “We hope that the Supreme Court intervenes, and we call on the Department of Justice to do everything in its power to make sure that this law does not take effect in the next couple of days.”
Worker’s Defense Project, an organization that defends immigrant workers’ rights in Texas, said the appeals court decision in itself was not surprising, but the swiftness was unexpected.
“We are used to being part of this political chess game here in the state of Texas. We always feel that we take one step forward and then we take two steps back. It is absolutely disheartening,” said WDP communications director Christine Bolaños.
“We expected something like this to happen, but we didn’t expect the decision to be reversed this quickly.”
The law was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in December, escalating tensions between Texas and the Biden administration over border security and immigration enforcement. SB 4 was immediately challenged by the ACLU and Department of Justice on constitutional grounds, setting the stage for a Supreme Court showdown that has widespread implications for states’ roles in immigration enforcement across the country.
Immigrant advocates and civil rights groups have criticized the law, saying that it will lead to racial profiling and lower crime reporting in immigrant communities scared to talk to police because of the law.
The Supreme Court has until March 13 to take further action, or the law will go into effect.
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