A sharply divided Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily allowed Texas to enforce a state law that allows officials to effectively deport undocumented immigrants, a move the Biden administration argued would upend more than a century of law that gave the federal government control of immigration enforcement.
The justices, in a 6-3 decision, turned aside the federal government’s request this month to alter a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that allows the state’s immigrant removal law, S.B. 4, to go into effect while a lawsuit plays out in the courts.
The case is part of a broader legal and political struggle over immigration between Texas, national Republicans and the Biden administration, including a border standoff in which Texas officials denied Border Patrol access to the Texas border. But legal experts said the S.B. 4 issue could be back before the court in a matter of weeks.
