Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday appealed a federal judge’s order halting the enforcement of a law that blocks state and local police from arresting suspected illegal immigrants.
The case concerns Senate Bill 4, a long-contested state law that cracked down on illegal immigration during the Biden administration. The law is still facing legal challenges.
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U.S. District Court Judge David Alan Ezra, a Reagan appointee, issued a preliminary injunction on May 14, blocking certain provisions in the law.
While Ezra permitted the law’s provision to criminalize illegal entry at the state level, the judge blocked the portion of the law that would allow Texas police to detain illegal immigrants and hand them over to federal authorities.
Paxton filed the appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on behalf of Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Martin faces a lawsuit filed by a coalition of civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
Paxton is asking the appeals court to stay the lower court’s preliminary injunction pending the appeal.
“Director Martin is likely to prevail on the merits of his appeal both because the district court lacked jurisdiction and because S.B.4 is not preempted by federal immigration law but rather compliments it,” the court document states.
According to the appeal, Ezra rejected the state’s request for a stay “because it concluded that Director Martin was unlikely to succeed on the merits, that existing federal law could prevent irreparable harm to the State, and that Plaintiffs faced the risk of removal.”
The federal judge’s order came one day before the Texas immigration bill was set to take effect this month.
“I am appealing to fully uphold SB 4 and protect Texas’s sovereignty,” Paxton said in a statement. “Under Texas law, SB 4 criminalizes illegal entry and that portion of the law remains fully in effect. My appeal seeks to ensure that the prohibitions on illegal reentry can also be enforced. Texas has the right to defend its border. I will never stop fighting for that right.”
The plaintiffs argue that the state law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which provides that federal law prevails over conflicting state or local laws.
Because immigration law has historically been enforced by the federal government, the plaintiffs argue that federal law should preempt state law. Texas insists that the argument doesn’t hold because there is no conflict with federal immigration law.
