Appeals Court Seems Divided on Halting Texas Immigration Law

A day after the Supreme Court denied an emergency bid by the White House to block the law, a federal appeals court is hearing arguments on the case.

Illegal immigrants pass through coils of razor wire while crossing the U.S.–Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on March 13, 2024. John Moore/Getty Images

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard arguments on March 20 over whether to temporarily halt Texas’s controversial immigration enforcement law before the circuit tackles it more substantively at a later date.

The three-judge panel appeared somewhat divided during arguments from Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson, the Justice Department (DOJ), and the American Civil Liberties Union.