Supreme Court puts controversial Texas immigration law on hold indefinitely

(CNN) –– The United States Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended enforcement of a controversial Texas immigration law that allows state authorities to arrest and detain people suspected of entering the country illegally.

The executive suspension will remain in effect while the high court evaluates emergency appeals from the Biden administration and other parties, asking judges to block enforcement of the law while their challenges develop. Monday’s order did not include an end date for the suspension.

US Supreme Court in the city of Washington. (Credit: Mendel Ngun/AFP/Getty Images)

The order comes from Justice Samuel Alito as he is the one currently overseeing matters arising from the appeals court evaluating the case.

This is the third time the Supreme Court has stayed the controversial law known as SB4. The first time was on March 4, when Alito announced a temporary suspension until March 13. Then, on March 12, the High Court extended that break.

These administrative orders provide additional time for the court to review the information in the case. However, they do not necessarily indicate which direction the court is actually leaning with respect to the application.

SB4 was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott last December. It immediately raised concerns among immigration advocates about the potential for increased racial profiling, as well as arrests and deportation efforts by state authorities in Texas, where Latinos make up 40% of the population.

In its petition to the Supreme Court, the Justice Department argued that the legislation would “profoundly” change the position that has existed between the United States and the states with respect to immigration for nearly 150 years.

“People may not agree with immigration. They never have. And Texas may be very concerned about recent immigration,” attorneys for a pair of immigration groups and El Paso County wrote in court papers. “But that’s what happened in California in the 1870s, in Pennsylvania and Michigan in the 1930s, and in Arizona in 2012. Yet for 150 years this Court has made it clear that states cannot regulate the core areas of immigration, admission and deportation,” he added.

For their part, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, and other officials told the Supreme Court that “the Constitution recognizes that Texas has the sovereign right to defend itself from violent international cartels that flood the state with fentanyl, weapons and all forms of brutality.” “

The case is the most recent example of how the Biden administration has gone to the Supreme Court in its current dispute with Texas over immigration. Earlier this year, the high court handed the government a temporary victory by overturning a lower court order barring federal agents from removing razor wire that Texas authorities had deployed along part of the border between the United States and Mexico.

Oral arguments in the Fifth Circuit are scheduled for next month.