Texas Immigration Law SB4 Blocked Again Mere Hours After Supreme Court Allowed the Law To Take Effect
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again blocked the controversial Texas immigration bill, SB4, mere hours after the Supreme Court allowed Texas law enforcement to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and Texas judges to have the power to deport them.
The late-night order dissolved the pause to suspend a lower court ruling that found SB4 to be unconstitutional. It also reinstated US District Court Judge David Ezra's ruling that the law is in conflict with federal immigration laws and the Constitution.
The ruling came on the very same day that the Supreme Court denied a request from the US DOJ to throw out the initial 5th Circuit order that had paused Ezra's ruling and allowed the law to be implemented despite the question of its legality.
According to CBS News, it was unclear whether the Texas state government was able to arrest and deport migrants over the short period that the law was allowed to take effect. Ezra's ruling will now be in place as the 5th Circuit considers SB4's legality.
A virtual hearing on the question of the law's legality will be held on Wednesday morning. For now, Texas law enforcement still cannot arrest immigrants on suspicion that they entered the country illegally.
Texas Law Enforcement Has No Idea How To Enforce Texas Immigration Law SB4
Meanwhile, on the law enforcement side of things, lawmen in the state have admitted that they have no idea how they should implement the law, even in counties that directly border Mexico.
READ MORE: Texas: 3 Kids Known as the 'Little Rascals Trio,' Ages 11, 12, 16, Arrested After Robbing Bank
Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County, which is a border country, spoke with the Associated Press and admitted that they have no practical way to enforce the law, saying, "We don't have a van that we can use to transport people in."
Up to ten people have been caught trying to cross the border in his county every day, and his department faces logistical problems in trying to arrest that many people across his county's vast desert area.
As the Associated Press noted, "many sheriffs were unprepared, unable or uninterested in enforcing SB4 in the first place." With the short window of just mere hours between the Supreme Court allowing the law to be enforced and the 5th Circuit blocking it again, there was no indication any Texas law enforcement agency even tried.
US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Calls Texas Immigration Law SB4 Unconstitutional
Under the US Constitution, it states that it is the federal government's responsibility to handle immigration, not the state's. This calls the legality of SB4 into question as it directly undermines federal jurisdiction.
Because of this conflict between the Texas law and the Constitution, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas slammed the Texas immigration law and called it unconstitutional.
"It is our strongly held view as a matter of law that is unconstitutional and it is our hope and confidence that the courts will strike it down with finality," he said during a news conference with Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo in Guatemala City, "Should SB4 be permitted to proceed, we are very concerned about the effect it would have and the chaos that it could bring to the challenge of border migration."
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Texas immigration battle grows after appeals court blocks SB4 law - TODAY
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