The US Supreme Court let Texas start arresting and deporting people who enter the country illegally, refusing to block a new law that the Biden administration says will be an unprecedented intrusion on federal power to set immigration policy.
Over three dissents, the justices rejected the administration’s request to keep the Texas law on hold while a legal fight goes forward at a lower court.
As is customary with emergency orders, the court as a whole gave no explanation. Two pivotal justices in the majority, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, left open the possibility the administration could return to the high court in the coming weeks to try again to block the law.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Writing for herself and Jackson, Sotomayor said the court “invites further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement.”
