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WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday extended a temporary pause on a Republican-backed Texas law allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
Alito's action gives the justices additional time to weigh a request by President Joe Biden's administration to freeze a judicial order allowing the Texas law to take effect while its challenge proceeds in the lower courts. The administration has argued that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law by interfering with the U.S. government's power to regulate immigration.
The U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 4 filed a lawsuit against Texas to challenge the immigration law that gives state officials broad powers to arrest, prosecute and deport people who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The law, known as Senate Bill 4, makes it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and gives state and local law enforcement authorities the power to arrest and prosecute violators. It also allows state judges to order that individuals be deported, with up to 20-year prison sentences for those who refuse to comply.
Record numbers of migrants have been caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border since President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021.
Contributing: Kanishka Singh
