DALLAS — Texas' controversial new immigration law remained on hold Wednesday despite a dizzying legal back and forth the day before in which SB4 was allowed to take effect for several hours.
The law would allow police in Texas to arrest migrants suspected of entering the state illegally -- and faces legal challenges from the federal government and the ACLU, among others.
On Wednesday lawyers for both sides made their case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals whether the law should be allowed to take effect while its constitutionality was debated in the courts.
The three-judge panel appeared split on the matter. One of the judges asked harsh questions of the attorney representing the Biden Administration, a second asked pointed inquires for the attorney representing Texas' legal interests. A third judge, a Biden appointee, did not speak during the hour-long hearing. It is not clear when the court will issue its ruling.
"It’s most likely that the law will not be allowed to go into effect until the appeals process is over. And I will be very surprised if the federal appeals process doesn’t find the law unconstitutional in whole or in part," said Cal Jillson, an SMU Professor of Political Science.
Jillson said the legal battle over the constitutionality of the law could last months or up to a year -- as it makes its way from the 5th Circuit likely to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"There's a lot at stake," he said. "Federal courts will have to think long and hard before they allow states to disrupt federal immigration authority."
As the legal battle continued, migrants -- and the groups that work to aid them -- tried to keep track of the law's various legal statuses over the past 36 hours.
"It’s crazy! I think I would call this like craziness. Right?" Almas Muscatwalla, the border liaison at Oak Lawn Methodist Church's Dallas Responds program asked. "I almost feel like my government is confused."
Her organization works to help migrants traveling through Dallas and is receiving buses with about 40 people aboard each week, she said. While the law prohibits law enforcement from making arrests within places of worship, she said it is still causing apprehension.
"I almost feel like on the edge, we don’t know where we’re going to fall in this area," she said.
Speaking in Austin on Wednesday, Governor Greg Abbott (R) vowed to keep fighting to enforce the law.
"What's going on at the border is nothing short of catastrophic," he said. "We will continue to use our arrest authority and arrest people coming across the border illegally."
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