A federal appeals court ruling on Friday has enabled Texas to move forward with implementing significant portions of legislation that grants state authorities the power to detain and remove individuals believed to have entered the country illegally through the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, located in New Orleans, issued a 2-1 decision that suspended a court order blocking the law. That original injunction had been put in place on May 14 following a class-action case brought by civil rights organizations representing thousands of individuals who might face consequences under the legislation.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra, based in Austin, had previously blocked the state law after determining it inappropriately interfered with federal authority over immigration, citizenship processes, and deportation procedures.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, promptly challenged the injunction, resulting in Friday’s appellate decision.
Organizations representing those affected by the law — including the American Civil Liberties Union, its Texas branch, and the Texas Civil Rights Project — released a joint statement expressing disappointment with the court’s decision and stated they “will continue to fight against this abhorrent and blatantly illegal law.”
Paxton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The legal challenge was initiated to block sections of the 2023 legislation from being implemented, following an April appeals court decision that reversed an earlier restraining order from Democratic President Joe Biden’s tenure that had prevented the Republican-supported measure, designated as SB 4, from going into effect.
Republican President Donald Trump’s administration had abandoned a legal challenge that the Biden administration had pursued against the law. Immigration advocacy organizations that had also filed suit continued their efforts, but the 5th Circuit ruled 10-7 that these groups did not have proper legal standing to continue their case.
The recent ACLU-supported legal action attempted to resolve this issue by filing suit on behalf of non-citizens who might be affected by four specific sections of the legislation.
These sections include measures that establish state-level criminal penalties for individuals who reenter the United States following deportation, regardless of whether they possess federal authorization or have subsequently received permanent resident status, and provisions that authorize Texas magistrate judges to issue removal orders.
