Texas Law Allowing Arrest, Deportation of Migrants Back on Hold After Being Briefly in Effect

Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. walk along the Rio Bravo river, the border between Mexico and the U.S., as seen from El Paso, Texas. (Credit: Photo by: Reuters/Carlos Barria)

The Texas law allowing state authorities to arrest and deport migrants, known as SB4, was put back on hold early Wednesday after briefly taking effect the day before.

Concretely, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel -the one that gave the law the legal green light- decided to temporarily pause its implementation ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Wednesday. It isn't clear how quickly the next decision could come following the divided, 2-1 ruling.