Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Texas law that makes it a crime for migrants to enter the state without authorization—and orders them to leave the country at threat of greater criminal penalty—to take effect while the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals further considers the law. Three justices dissented. In response, Tom Jawetz, senior fellow for Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Once again, conservatives on the Supreme Court have allowed the state of Texas and the 5th Circuit to control federal immigration policy and intrude on important matters of foreign affairs during the pendency of litigation. Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, who joined the six-justice majority, explained their decision to allow the law to take effect by saying that they purposely declined to consider whether Texas had any chance of successfully defending the law on appeal—a clever trick given how legally indefensible the law is.
Implementation of S.B. 4 will increase the spectacle of chaos and cruelty in Texas while complicating the federal government’s ability to enforce federal immigration law and conduct foreign affairs with the government of Mexico. Hopefully, this decision will be short-lived. If the 5th Circuit does not act promptly to allow the district court’s injunction to take effect, the case should return swiftly to the Supreme Court.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Julia Cusick at [email protected].