The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay on a lower court order blocking a new Texas law allowing prosecution of illegal migrants.
The law enables Texas to remove migrants and is set to take effect on March 9 if the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene.
“For the past century, Texas has relied on its expansive police powers afforded to it under the Constitution to regulate crime within its borders. Texas may continue to do so, but I cannot regulate the federal field of unlawful entry and removal,” U.S. District Judge David Ezra said.
The law is similar to a federal statute but imposes stricter penalties for immigration offenses.
It allows migrants to agree to return home as part of sentencing.
The Supreme Court may review the law, as it did with a similar Arizona law in 2010.
