The conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals maintained a block on the Texas law that would allow the state to enforce immigration law. “A federal appeals court late Tuesday ruled against Texas in its bitter clash with the federal government, deciding that a law allowing the state to arrest and deport migrants could not be implemented while the courts wrestled with the question of whether it is legal, “The New York Times reports. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who argues that the state needs to be able to arrest and deport migrants to deal with its border with Mexico, has said that expects that the fight to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a 2-to-1 decision on Tuesday, the three-judge Fifth Circuit panel sided with lawyers for the Biden administration. The opinion was written by the Fifth Circuit’s chief judge, Priscilla Richman, a nominee of President George W. Bush, and was joined by Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, who was nominated to the bench by President Biden last year. Judge Richman found that Texas’ law conflicted with federal law and with Supreme Court precedent, particularly a 2012 immigration case, Arizona v. United States. “For nearly 150 years, the Supreme Court has held that the power to control immigration — the entry, admission and removal of noncitizens — is exclusively a federal power,” she wrote.