By Acacia Coronado and Lindsay Whitehurst | Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday temporarily halted a new Texas law that allows police to arrest migrants who enter the country illegally and set up another legal showdown over the federal government’s authority over immigration.
Hours after the Justice Department asked the high court to intervene, the court blocked the Texas immigration law from going into effect until next week. The high court also requested a response from the state by Monday.
The emergency request came after a federal appeals court over the weekend stayed U.S. District Judge David Ezra’s sweeping rejection of the law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who for months has unveiled a series of escalating measures on the border that have tested the boundaries of how far a state can go keep migrants from entering the country.
The law was set to take effect Saturday unless the Supreme Court intervened. The Justice Department told the court that the law would profoundly alter “the status quo that has existed between the United States and the States in the context of immigration for almost 150 years.”
It went on to argue that the law would have “significant and immediate adverse effects” on the country’s relationship with Mexico and “create chaos” in enforcing federal immigration laws in Texas.
The federal governtment cited a 2012 Supreme Court ruling on an Arizona law that would have allowed police to arrest people for federal immigration violations, often referred to by opponents as the “show me your papers” bill. The divided high court found that the impasse in Washington over immigration reform did not justify state intrusion.
In a statement Monday, the Texas Attorney General’s Office said the Texas law mirrored federal law and “was adopted to address the ongoing crisis at the southern border, which hurts Texans more than anyone else.”
In a 114-page ruling Thursday, Ezra rebuked…
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