Texas immigration law back on hold after court appeal | DW News

To the US now, where a battle in the courts over a new migration law is causing confusion at the US-Mexico border. The law gives state authorities in Texas the power to arrest and deport people. The US Supreme Court cleared the way for the law to take effect on Tuesday, but just hours later, appeals court judges decided to block it as they consider whether it interferes with the federal government's immigration powers. Mexico has already said it will not accept anyone ordered to leave Texas under the so-called SB4 law. Here's what Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary had to say. It is an anti-migrant, xenophobic, discriminatory law that says that any migrant or any person moving anywhere in Texas can be detained by the authorities and put in jail or deported. Our reporter, Ferenc Gal, is in Eagle Pass in Texas on the US-Mexico border. Ferenc, hi there. We're hearing that this back and forth on this law is causing confusion both among border authorities and among migrants. What are you seeing? Yes, as you said, we're here in the small US border city of Eagle Pass. Right behind us on the other side is the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras. And in between, right behind this big border fence which is being guarded by the Texas National Guard, is what has been now turned into the base for this National Guard. Up until recently, it used to be a public park where people used to go to play sports. And this has now been turned into a base for, well, the Republican government's efforts also to secure the border here. And it really shows the resources he's willing to throw at this because he is determined to take the lead on securing the border here in Texas. And this is, of course, also what has sparked this whole debate and the legal battle which we're now witnessing unfolding as we're speaking in the courts. Yes, Ferenc, let's talk about this law because it would give state authorities in Texas the power to arrest and deport people. How prepared are Texas authorities for this kind of power? That is an interesting question. Even today in the court hearing regarding this matter, there seemed to be some lack of clarity, even on the Texas side, how exactly things would be implemented, which, of course, in the end it comes down to how will this law actually be put into practice. And there is a lot of doubt, for example, whether or not there will be enough judges who have the specific qualifications in immigration law to implement and to be hearing cases on immigration law or how exactly local and state authorities will be carrying out arrests and deportations and whether they're even in a position to carry out deportations. So there is definitely a lot of uncertainty also around the practicalities of this law, which are still even to be seen if it will come to this because even the legality of the law has not been determined yet. Yes, and, of course, there's going to be, I guess, you mentioned a kind of a standoff. Mexico is not going to accept anyone repatriated from Texas either. How is this affecting relations between the two countries? Exactly. As we have heard before, this is definitely something that could put a strain on the relation between these two countries and it is no small issue because, of course, Mexico is one of the largest trading partners of the United States. And what is interesting, if this law will come into force and it will be declared as constitutional, hypothetically, we don't know this, of course, at this point, and then in combination with a possible Trump presidency, there might be some tension because Mexican President Ander Manuel López Obrador has been in the past very close to Donald Trump and has had a very positive relationship with him. But that might, of course, be put to the test if this law would actually be enforced here in Texas and if actually Texas authorities would start and try to deport people back to Mexico, which, of course, Mexico has very flatly refused already now. DW reporter Ferenc Geil on the U.S.-Mexico border. Thanks so much for that, Ferenc. Well, last year, the Republican governor of Texas began sending new arrivals to other cities around the United States on buses. Tens of thousands headed to Denver in the central state of Colorado. DW's Benjamin Alvarez Gruber met people there, doing what they can to accommodate these new arrivals. Located far from the U.S. southern border, Denver was not directly impacted by a regular migration until a political decision changed that. In May of 2023, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, announced that he would start busing migrants to Denver, the fifth city that he's been targeted to raise awareness about the immigration problems that Texas is facing. As a result, tens of thousands of migrants arrived in Colorado's capital. City officials said that in the past year, Denver received more migrants per capita than any other major city outside Texas. Many migrants ended up in encampments on the street. Seeing the desperate situation, Andrea got involved. The mother of three started a Facebook group called Highland Moms and Neighbors that attracted more than 7,000 volunteers to help migrants, here in a Denver church that houses migrants. Andrea would like to see governments and non-profits with better resources and more experience doing the job they are expected to do. The problem is that because our immigration system doesn't work and there's no plan, so they're opening the door to thousands and thousands and thousands of people who genuinely need help and who want to work and just not be dependent on anyone. They're not looking for handouts. They don't have to force coats and shoes on people. They want work. They want to be able to pay for their own stuff. I say this a lot and I mean it, not disrespectfully, but honestly, whoever is in charge of immigration policy in this country needs to step aside, maybe go have a snack, clean your room, and let the moms do it. 48 hours and this could be fixed. Denver has spent more than $36 million helping migrants. Residents in neighboring Lakewood say that's too much. Recently hundreds of them gathered for a town hall meeting to raise concerns about overwhelmed hospitals and infrastructure. The concern is that all of the neighboring municipalities were approached to help with the situation in Denver. They want all of us to take a role in housing and feeding and services. People are reluctant to get engaged here, particularly when the city and when the government really is not asking how you feel about this. This needs to have public discussion and that has not happened. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston's office did not respond to interview requests. In February, the mayor announced temporary cuts to some city services to fund the immigration response, a decision that increased the already existing tensions. Now that conversation and that dynamic has created us versus them in Denver where prior to that I didn't hear that. Prior to that I had tons of people wanting to help and stepping into that space of filling the gap where government couldn't. Now that some of our recreation centers are closing, have limited hours, and our motor vehicle centers have limited hours, yes, now I'm hearing like, well, what about us? Many fear that this increasingly politicized conversation with an upcoming presidential election and a radicalized discourse on migration in the United States will only get more heated, pushing a fair humanitarian solution further out of reach. We asked our correspondent in Washington, Janelle Dumoulin, what role immigration policy will play in the upcoming U.S. election campaign. Well, it's fair to say that immigration has always been a hot-button topic here in the U.S., but with this looming presidential election, you can only expect for this discourse to become even more heated. You have the likes of former President Donald Trump using increasingly dehumanizing rhetoric around migrants. He says that he thinks some of them aren't human. He says that they're poisoning the blood of the country. If elected, he promises to put forward the biggest mass deportation efforts that the country has ever seen. He blames Biden for what he calls an invasion. Now, Biden, for his part, has been trying to distinguish himself from Trump on this migrant issue, saying that he doesn't want to demonize migrants. Instead, what he's trying to do is highlight the stalled bipartisan border security bill, that bill that would have allocated $20 billion towards tighter border controls. But this, of course, was a bill that was blocked by House Republicans, apparently at the behest of Trump, who wants to campaign on the border issue. So Biden has been using this as evidence that the Republicans aren't really interested in solving this problem, that they're only interested in playing political games. And so you have this back and forth, and you can expect that back and forth to only become more inflamed the closer we get to the presidential election.