A Texas state attorney told a federal appeals court that the state may have gone “too far” in passing a law that allows state officials to effectively deport immigrants, part of oral arguments Wednesday in the federal government’s push to block the law.
The state has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to reverse a lower court order that found the entire law, known as S.B.4, likely violated the Constitution in a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration and civil rights groups. Last month, a three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit ruled 2-1 to keep the state law on hold while the appeal proceeds.
Aaron Nielson, the Texas lawyer arguing for the state Wednesday, told the same three-judge panel that “maybe Texas went too far” into federal authority over immigration in passing the law, but said the lower court went too far by blocking the entire law before it could go into effect.
