A controversial Texas law that criminalizes illegal entry into this Mexican border state was once again suspended on Tuesday, March 19, after a contrary decision by the United States Supreme Court earlier in the day.
The American Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, lifted the suspension of the law on Tuesday, motivating its decision for purely procedural reasons. This was to provisionally allow the entry into force of the text, initially scheduled for March 5, but blocked by a federal court in this southern US state.
But on Tuesday evening, a federal appeals court again suspended the law.
A declared supporter of Donald Trump, who made the rejection of immigration a major axis of his electoral campaign, the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has openly defied for months the authority of the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden . He accuses her of“deliberate inaction” faced with the influx of migrants that he describes as“invasion”.
“Chaos and confusion”
The law known as “SB 4”, signed in December by the governor, creates a “criminal offense of illegal entry into Texas from a foreign country”, punishable by six months in prison, or even up to twenty years in the event of a repeat offense. Giving state authorities the power to arrest migrants and deport them to Mexico, it is contested by the justice ministry, immigrant support NGOs and a local community.
Before the new suspension of the text, the White House had deplored in a press release the decision of the Supreme Court “allowing the harmful and unconstitutional Texas law to take effect”claiming that she “will sow[it] chaos and confusion on the southern border ».
The Mexican Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday that it would refuse to welcome migrants, even Mexicans, expelled by Texas. “Mexico will not, under any circumstances, accept repatriations carried out by the State of Texas”did he declare.
Irreparable damage “
Previously, an ultraconservative appeals court lifted the stay issued by the federal trial judge, subject to an order from the Supreme Court. The three progressive judges of the highest court in the country dissociated themselves from the decision taken Tuesday by the six other conservative judges. Court of Appeal “should have taken into consideration the constitutionality and irreparable damage caused by the law before allowing it to come into force”wrote one of them, Sonia Sotomayor. “This court makes the same mistake”she adds.
Interviewed by Agence France-Presse, migrants waiting in Mexico to cross the border said the law would not stop them from trying to do so.