Dallas News by James Barragan 9/22/2017
AUSTIN — Attorneys for Texas asked a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday to let the state's law banning sanctuary cities take effect.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia blocked most of the law Aug. 30, two days before it was to be implemented. Texas immediately announced that it would appeal.
Arguments on Garcia's injunction against parts of the law are scheduled for the week of Nov. 6. However, state officials, joined by the U.S. Justice Department, sought an emergency stay allowing enforcement to begin. That request was made before a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday morning.
Court officials said the panel would begin discussing the case immediately after the hearing ended, but a decision was not expected Friday.
Nina Perales, lead lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing several of the plaintiffs, said the judges were very engaged and asked challenging questions of both sides.
"I left the court feeling that we had provided our best arguments and so had the state," Perales told The Dallas Morning News. "The court really cut right to the center of the argument and everyone had a chance to set their best argument forward."
In a written statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the law "affirms the rights and duty" of law enforcement agencies across the state to detain people based on a request to federal immigration authorities. The law has pitted the call for mandatory cooperation with federal immigration authorities against the civil rights and protections written into the Constitution.
More:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2017/09/22/texas-asks-appeals-court-let-sanctuary-cities-law-take-effect
