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Massive loss for Biden’s administration as U.S Supreme Court allows Texas to enforce immigration laws
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Texas to enforce for now a contentious new law that gives local police the power to arrest migrants.
The conservative-majority court, with three liberal justices dissenting, rejected an emergency request by the Biden administration, which said states have no authority to legislate on immigration, an issue the federal government has sole authority over.
That means the law can go into effect while litigation continues in lower courts. It could be blocked at a later date. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, hailed the court order, calling it “clearly a positive development,” though he acknowledged that the legal battle is not over. Joe Biden becomes first incumbent president to lose Democrat primary election in Samoa
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the law “will not only make communities in Texas less safe, it will also burden law enforcement and sow chaos and confusion at our southern border.”
“The court gives a green light to a law that will upend the longstanding federal-state balance of power and sow chaos,” liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion. Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson also objected to the decision.
The majority did not explain its reasoning, but one of the conservative justices, Amy Coney Barrett, wrote separately to note that an appeals court has yet to weigh in on the issue. Advertisements “If a decision does not issue soon, the applicants may return to this court,” she wrote. Her opinion was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. In response to the Supreme Court order, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals fast-tracked oral arguments on the Biden administration’s effort to block the law. Arguments are set to take place Wednesday morning, meaning a decision could come quickly.
The law in question, known as SB4, allows police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the border from Mexico and imposes criminal penalties. It would also empower state judges to order people to be deported to Mexico.
A top Mexico official said Tuesday in a statement on X that the country will not accept deportations from Texas.
According to a spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety, there is no start date yet for enforcement of the law. Lt. Chris Olivarez said that state officials have been planning for its implementation for months, but they’re still discussing some practical details.
In Val Verde County on the U.S.-Mexico border, Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said his small force, with three deputies on duty around the clock for a 3,145 square mile county of 47,586 people, will not start arresting migrants until he receives guidance from the state.
“I think that we all are in uncharted waters,” he said Tuesday.
He said not only is he not sure how and when to initiate enforcement of the state law, but that he will likely need more deputies and jail space if tasked with the new enforcement initiative. The county jail has a daily capacity of 94, Martinez said.“Right now we’re not equipped to handle that,” he said.
The dispute is the latest clash between the Biden administration and Texas over immigration enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border. In a separate opinion, Kagan wrote that the Texas law appears to conflict with federal law, noting that “the subject of immigration generally, and the entry and removal of noncitizens particularly, are matters long thought the special province of the federal government.”
A federal judge blocked the law after the Biden administration sued, but the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a brief order that it could go into effect March 10 if the Supreme Court declined to intervene.
The appeals court has not yet decided whether to grant the federal government’s request to block the law. On March 4, Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary freeze on the law to give the Supreme Court time to consider the federal government’s request. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in court papers that the law is “flatly inconsistent” with Supreme Court precedent dating back 100 years.
“Those decisions recognize that the authority to admit and remove noncitizens is a core responsibility of the national government, and that where Congress has enacted a law addressing those issues, state law is preempted,” she wrote.
The appeals court, Prelogar added, did not explain its reasoning for allowing the law to go into effect. She dismissed Texas’ argument that its law can be defended on the basis that the state is effectively battling an invasion at the border under the State War Clause of the Constitution.
The provision says states cannot “engage in war, unless actually invaded” or in imminent danger. “A surge of unauthorized immigration plainly is not an invasion within the meaning of the State War Clause,” Prelogar wrote.
Defending the law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in court papers that the measure complements federal law and the state should be allowed to enforce it.
The Constitution “recognizes that Texas has the sovereign right to defend itself from violent transnational cartels that flood the state with fentanyl, weapons, and all manner of brutality,” he added.
Texas is “the nation’s first-line defense against transnational violence and has been forced to deal with the deadly consequences of the federal government’s inability or unwillingness to protect the border,” Paxton said.
The city of El Paso and two immigrant rights groups, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways, have also challenged the law and filed their own emergency request at the Supreme Court.
In 2012, the Supreme Court invalidated provisions of a tough immigration law enacted in Arizona. Only two of the justices who were in the majority in that case are still on the court: Chief Justice John Roberts and Sotomayor.
Biden administration outrage over Supreme Court verdict President Biden Outraged over Supreme Court’s Decision Granting Texas Authority to Arrest Undocumented Immigrants Pending Final Ruling, Making Border Crossings a State Crime.
In a statement, the Biden White House writes, “We fundamentally disagree with the Supreme Court’s order allowing Texas’ harmful and unconstitutional law to go into effect. “S.B. 4 will not only make communities in Texas less safe, it will also burden law enforcement, and sow chaos and confusion at our southern border.
“S.B. 4 is just another example of Republican officials politicizing the border while blocking real solutions. “We remained focused on delivering the significant policy changes and resources we need to secure the border – that is why we continue to call on Congressional Republicans to pass the bipartisan border security agreement, the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades.”
Nigerians and other foreign workers in the UK have welcomed a new immigration policy allowing recognised victims of modern slavery on Skilled Worker visas to leave exploitative employers and take up new jobs without putting their immigration status at risk.
The UK Home Office announced the change on Thursday, saying workers who have been formally recognised as victims of modern slavery should not be forced to remain with abusive employers because of their immigration status.
“No victim of modern slavery should be trapped with an exploitative employer because of their immigration status,” the Home Office said in a post on its official X account.
It added that recognised victims on Skilled Worker visas would now be able to leave abusive employers and work elsewhere without risking their immigration status.
The development has attracted positive reactions online, particularly from Nigerians who work in or are familiar with the UK’s care and support sector.
An X user, @daddyhope, described the announcement as “good news for care workers”, saying the policy could remove the fear of deportation allegedly used by some exploitative employers to control sponsored workers.
“From today, care workers and other Skilled Worker visa holders who are formally recognised as victims of modern slavery will be allowed to leave abusive employers and work elsewhere without risking their immigration status,” the user wrote.
Another user, @JajaPhD, welcomed the policy but sought clarification on who qualifies as a recognised victim.
“Sounds like progress. What’s a recognised victim though?” the user asked, pointing to concerns among some care and support workers who may feel trapped in exploitative workplaces because they fear losing their sponsorship and livelihoods if they report abuse.
Similarly, @MzHorlabc11 described the development as “a step in the right direction”, while calling for more clarity on how the new arrangement would operate in practice.
Other users expressed stronger support for the move.
@Unfilteredxrp8 described the announcement as “fantastic news”, saying it would provide relief to many skilled workers living in the UK.
@Prestigious_Gt also welcomed the development, suggesting that the change could encourage employers to improve their treatment of sponsored workers.
“Some employers deserve this news. They will be calmer and more respectful moving forward,” the user wrote.
Another X user, @RealMrKay, expressed optimism that the policy would encourage employers to treat sponsored workers more fairly.
The user said they knew people who were unhappy with their sponsors over what they considered unfair treatment compared with workers who did not require sponsorship.
The UK Government’s move provides an important safeguard for people who have been formally recognised as victims of modern slavery and whose immigration status is linked to their employment.
However, reactions online also highlighted the need for greater public understanding of the process through which a worker becomes formally recognised as a victim of modern slavery.
The change is particularly relevant to care workers and other sponsored employees, who have previously faced restrictions linked to their employer-sponsored immigration status when attempting to leave abusive or exploitative workplaces.
The death toll from last week’s devastating flash floods in Nepal has risen to 1,222, with 4,875 people still missing as rescuers continue to search through debris and isolated communities a week after the disaster.
According to The Hindu, citing Nepal Police and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, bodies have been recovered across eight districts, with Chitawan recording the highest number at 348, followed by Nawalparasi East with 218 and Nawalparasi West with 208.
Nuwakot has recorded 155 deaths, while 127 bodies have been recovered in Rasuwa, 69 in Gorkha, 60 in Dhading and 38 in Tanahu.
The scale of the disaster has also complicated the search for missing people, 583 of whom are foreigners, while thousands remain unaccounted for in areas where roads, bridges and communication networks were swept away.
The joint security operation involving the Nepal Army and other security agencies has so far rescued 11,993 people by helicopter and land routes. About 21,314 security personnel have been deployed for search and rescue operations.
The humanitarian crisis was underscored on Wednesday in Bidur, where survivors were forced to use a temporary cable crossing over the swollen Trishuli River after floodwaters destroyed roads and bridges.
The Nepal Army installed the roughly 250-metre cable, which residents and soldiers have been using to move people across the river, including those needing medical treatment, medicines, food and other essential supplies.
The disaster has also spread across the Nepal-China border. In Tibet’s Gyirong county, where flooding struck near the Nepal border, 21 people have died, and 541 remain missing, according to Chinese authorities cited by The Hindu.
China reopened the highway leading to the Gyirong border crossing on Wednesday after floodwaters destroyed sections of the route, allowing heavy rescue equipment to reach the disaster zone.
Reuters reported that search teams equipped with life-detection devices and dogs were subsequently deployed.
India has also stepped up its response, with a fifth aircraft arriving in Nepal carrying an 11-member rescue team, specialised equipment and 5.5 tonnes of essential medicines, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
The disaster has meanwhile renewed scrutiny of development and environmental practices in the Himalayan region. Environmentalist Sunita Narain said the scale of the flooding was linked to decades of treating rivers and mountains as though they could be continually re-engineered, particularly through extensive hydropower development.
The continuing recovery operation comes as authorities confront the destruction of transport links and the large number of people still missing, leaving the final human cost of the disaster uncertain.
Tiger Woods has been fined and suspended from driving for five years after entering a plea agreement to a reckless driving charge, following March’s rollover car crash in Florida.
The 15-time major champion was arrested in March and spent eight hours in jail before being bailed, after the Land Rover he was driving rolled over in a collision with a pick-up truck towing a trailer.
Woods previously entered a written plea of not guilty via his lawyers to charges of driving under the influence, property damage and a refusal to submit to testing.
The former world No 1 attended a plea conference hearing at Martin County Courthouse in Florida on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving and the refusal to submit an unlawful test.
Judge Darren Steele accepted the plea agreement, which amended the original DUI charge and resolved the refusal to submit a test charge, while Woods also entered a plea to a careless driving citation.
On the reckless driving second offence charge, Woods received a $1,000 (£748) fine and a five-year driving suspension.
On the second count, the refusal to submit to a lawful test, he received a $500 (£370) fine.
“There are no exceptions. If you were to drive for any reason at all, you would go immediately back to jail,” Steele told the court.
Woods was ordered to pay the minimum fine for the careless driving citation, which also carries a five-year driving ban to run concurrently with the suspension on the reckless driving charge.
The 50-year-old said little during the hearing. He arrived at the courthouse with Vanessa Trump, his girlfriend and President Donald Trump’s former daughter-in-law, who sat behind him during a hearing that lasted under 10 minutes.
He was also fined court costs, according to court documents. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but means the accused will offer no defense.
The plea is treated as a conviction in the criminal justice system.
The police report from the March 27 crash said deputies found two hydrocone pills – used to treat pain – in his pocket, and he showed signs of impairment.
It described Woods’ movements as slow and lethargic when speaking to deputies at the scene.
The report also said Woods appeared to be sweating, his eyes looked glassy, and his pupils were dilated.
Woods managed to crawl out of his car without any injuries and told a deputy he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station when he hit the truck.
Woods has not featured in a professional golf event since missing the cut at The Open in July 2024.
He made his first public appearance since returning from treatment in Switzerland on June 23, when he introduced the PGA Tour’s plans to revamp its schedule for 2028.
Woods remained as chairman of the PGA Tour’s Future Competition Committee after his arrest.
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