(PatriotSpotlight.org) – The U.S Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has temporarily halted a Texas law allowing state law enforcement to arrest migrants crossing the Mexico-U.S. border. Justice Samuel Alito signed the order, prohibiting Texas from rolling out the new law before March 13th. The state has until March 11th respond to a Justice Department (D.O.J.) request that the law’s implementation be paused.
This action comes on the back of an emergency request filed by the D.O.J on Monday in which Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar claimed that the law would endanger a more than 150-year status quo between the United States and its 52 states as regards immigration.
Prelogar’s argument was sparked by a decision from the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit over the weekend, which temporarily halted a federal district judge’s ruling which had blocked the law’s planned enactment last week. She stressed that the district court’s injunction was merely upholding a long-standing precedent.
The law, already signed off by Texas’ GOP Governor Greg Abbott in December, gives Texas police and border agents the authority to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illicitly. Once arrested, migrants would be made to comply with a judge’s order to exit the country or face misdemeanor charges under the fresh legislation.
The law has inserted further tensions into Texas’ already heated immigration debate with the Biden administration. In January, the Justice Department initiated legal action against Texas, claiming that the law contravenes the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
Meanwhile, concerns about the U.S. migrant crisis continue to mount, with experts predicting that the backlog of asylum seekers and other migrants could reach eight million this September, marking an 167% increase compared to five years ago. There has been a huge surge in migrant crossings on the U.S.’ southern border, with over 300,000 recorded in December 2023. Many people have expressed reservations over the nature and speed of the migrant flow, given that illegal crossings are unvetted and break the law.
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