Court action on Texas law creates confusion
Police chiefs, migrants at border await directions as new rule remains on hold
McALLEN, Texas — A dizzying volley of courtroom maneuvers over a Texas law that would allow the state to arrest and deport people who enter the US illegally sowed confusion at the nation’s border with Mexico on Wednesday as sheriffs, police chiefs and migrants waited for direction.
Texas faced skeptical questioning during a hearing before a threejudge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that ended without a ruling, leaving the new law on hold for now. It was part of a flurry of activity that included a decision from the US Supreme Court that allowed the law to take effect for several hours on Tuesday. And regardless of how the three-judge panel rules, the legal saga over Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s latest escalation to prevent illegal border crossings won’t be over.
Yolanis Campo, 42, who traveled from Colombia and crossed the Rio Grande to enter the US from Mexico with her 16-year-old daughter, recommended other migrants take another route because of the confusion over Texas law. She was processed by Border Patrol agents who released her with an ankle monitor tag to pursue her immigration case.
“It’s more complicated because (federal authorities) tell us we can move on, but this new rule, this new law complicates everything because it says we can’t move on,” said Campo, who was staying at a shelter in McAllen.
During Wednesday’s hearing, 5th Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla
Richman questioned how the state law would be carried out, including how Texas would respond if federal authorities don’t cooperate with a state judge’s order to deport someone. No arrests were reported while it was in effect on Tuesday.
The US Department of Homeland Security has said it would not have authority to deport under the state law.
“This is uncharted because we don’t have any cases on it,” said Texas Solicitor-General Aaron Nielson.
The Justice Department has argued that Texas law is a clear violation of federal authority and would create chaos at the border.
The department’s lawyers faced a grilling from Judge Andrew Oldham, who was appointed by former president Donald Trump. The third judge on the panel, Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, previously voted to keep the law on hold.
Assertion challenged
Richman challenged Texas’ assertion that it is exercising a “core police power”, getting Nielson to acknowledge that deporting people has been a federal responsibility. But Nielson denied that Texas is “trying to take over the field” on border enforcement and said the state wants to cooperate with the federal government to address the issue.
Republican legislators wrote the law so that it applies in all of the state’s 254 counties, although Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said he expects it will mostly be enforced near the US-Mexico border.
The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the law. It instead kicked back to the lower appeals court a challenge led by the Justice Department. The 5th Circuit has been considering the state’s appeal of a scathing injunction from a lowercourt judge that put the law on hold.
Under Texas law, once migrants are in custody on illegal entry charges, they can agree to a judge’s order to leave the US or face prosecution. However, Mexico has said it would refuse to take back anyone who is ordered to cross the border.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday criticized Texas’ new immigration law as “draconian”.
The law, known as Senate Bill 4, would allow US state and local law enforcement to arrest and deport people suspected of crossing the US southern border without authorization. Yet, the law was blocked by an appeals court hours after the US Supreme Court passed it.
During his daily news conference, Lopez Obrador said SB4 violates human rights and his government will not accept deportations from Texas.
“Of course, we are against this draconian law (that is) completely opposite and contrary to human rights,” he said.
Prosecutors in the western Mexican state of Jalisco said Wednesday they found five dead bodies piled in a bulletproof SUV, while near the Arizona border authorities found seven more bodies.