A federal appeals court allowed to stand Texas’ law giving the state independent power to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, with the judges saying the groups who challenged it lacked legal standing to bring the case.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said they were not ruling on the legality of the state’s law at this time.
But they erased an injunction that had been put in place to block it from taking effect, saying that ruling was based on a faulty understanding of standing, which is the need to prove an injury that can be corrected by a court.
The law created state criminal penalties for crossing the border into Texas, matching the federal law. It also called for the state to carry out its own removals of illegal crossers.
Texas’ goal was to give itself independent powers to enforce the border. The state cited the Constitution’s “invasion clause” as authority for the state to act.
Opposing the state in the lawsuit are immigrant rights groups, who said they had to spend time and money defending illegal immigrants who would be snared by the state law.
Judge Jerry Smith, writing the key opinion for the court, said that argument was too tenuous.
“When enterprising plaintiffs repackage a generalized grievance as an ’injury,’ courts should rightly exercise caution. Otherwise, they risk being led astray by plaintiffs’ artful articulations or backhanded bootstrapping,” he wrote.
Dissenting judges, though, said they did see enough legal injury for at least one of the immigrant rights groups to sue.
And they said the state laws do interfere with the federal government’s operations.
Judge Stephen Higginson, one of the dissenters, pointed out that federal law allows illegal border crossers to claim asylum and for the federal government to detain migrants while those cases are pending. State law contains no such protection.
“At its core, Texas’s law interferes with the federal scheme addressing who may be removed, how and to where,” Judge Higginson wrote.
The Biden administration had originally been part of the lawsuit against Texas. After the change in administrations, the federal government bowed out.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hailed Friday’s decision.
“Texas’s right to arrest illegals, protect our citizens and enforce immigration law is fundamental. This is a major victory for public safety and law and order,” he said.
Texas’ laws were the spear tip of a push to argue that the surge of illegal immigrants during the Biden years constituted an invasion. Under the Constitution, an invasion could trigger some independent state powers.
When he took office, President Trump embraced the “invasion” label to justify his own border crackdown, which has proved extremely effective.
The flow of illegal immigrants sneaking across the southern border is down 95% under Mr. Trump compared to the average month under the Biden administration.
