A federal judge ruled that Texas cannot enforce a recent law that makes illegal border crossings a state crime.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra paused the law before it was set to take effect on March 5, with Texas expected to appeal. Ezra argued that the law conflicted with the federal government’s supremacy in immigration matters.
Allowing Texas to “permanently supersede federal directives” would “amount to nullification of federal law and authority — a notion that is antithetical to the Constitution and has been unequivocally rejected by federal courts since the Civil War,” Ezra argued.
Ezra previously expressed fears that states developing immigration laws could escalate into a confederacy of states with their own immigration laws.
“That is the same thing the Civil War said you can’t do,” he said.
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The move is a blow to Texas, which has taken a series of increasingly drastic measures in an effort to stop the millions of immigrants crossing the border. Federal courts have consistently sided against Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) efforts, including the placing of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande and the construction of razor wire along the border.
Thursday’s decision comes on the same day as the two presumptive presidential nominees, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, make dueling visits to the border.