Shutterstock / Vic Hinterlang
A group of migrants seeking U.S. asylum walk down a road beside the Rio Grande River to turn themselves in to the Border Patrol.
U.S. Judge David A. Ezra wrote in his ruling that Texas' "Show Me Your Papers Law," which would allow state and local authorities to detain anyone they suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, "conflicts with key provisions of federal immigration law, to the detriment of the United States' foreign relations and treaty obligations."
What's more, Ezra also blasted Abbott's legal argument that migrants are invading Texas, hence allowing the state to enact certain measures in self-defense, according to the daily.
"To allow Texas to permanently supersede federal directives on the basis of an invasion would amount to the 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 wrote.
Indeed, Abbott invoked the Confederate Theory of Secession in the open letter penned in late January in defense of Texas' construction of border wall and concertina wire along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ezra's ruling aligns with that of experts, including Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson, who previously told the Current that, per past Supreme Court rulings, immigration enforcement lies exclusively with the federal government.
Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed
