Despite a legal battle over the border issue, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has stayed stubborn in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday that extended an administrative stay preventing a contentious immigration legislation from going into force in the state.
There was some momentary uncertainty as to whether the freeze had expired when conservative Justice Samuel Alito released his one-page order, which came several minutes after he had set a deadline.
Since there was no new deadline included in the most recent stay, the bill was essentially put on hold while the high court considered its options.
Texas “cannot run its own immigration system,” according to a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration in January over the statute. It has stated in filings that the execution of this measure poses a threat to “profoundly” change the immigration status quo that has “existed between the United States and the States for almost 150 years.”
Last month, a federal court in Austin ordered a preliminary injunction to stop the law. The judge noted in his ruling that Texas was probably going to lose the case.
The state filed an appeal of the ruling right away, and Abbott insisted that the Supreme Court will “ultimately decide” the matter.
He claimed that the setback on Monday “didn’t halt Texas’ pre-existing authority to arrest for criminal trespass and other violations of the law” in a statement to CBS News.
He further added: “Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to this Biden-made border crisis. This case remains on schedule to be argued at the 5th Circuit on April 3rd.”
“We continue building the wall, use [National Guard] to erect razor wire barriers to repel migrants & buoys remain in river,” Abbott continued in a tweet.
