The Texas Supreme Court has allowed the arrest and jailing of immigrants as part of the state’s tough new immigration law.

Under the law, known as SB4, local and state police can arrest and prosecute those suspected of illegally crossing the border into Mexico.

The Biden administration called the law unconstitutional.

The decision comes a day after it was “put on ice” by the same court while emergency appeals were being carried out.

Enforcement of immigration laws – including arrests – is usually handled by the federal government.

SB4 now gives that power to Texas officials, allowing them to deport immigrants by allowing them to return to Mexico.

This law is one of the toughest immigration measures taken by any US state in recent years.

In all, SB4 was delayed three times by Justice Samuel Alito.

Then on Tuesday the Supreme Court said the law could go into effect at the same time as a lower federal appeals court weighs its legality.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hailed the decision as a “huge victory” against the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which challenged the law in court.

“As always, it’s an honor to stand up for Texas and its sovereignty,” he wrote, among other things, in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The ACLU, for its part, pledged that it “will not back down until this extreme anti-immigration law is permanently repealed.”

The court’s three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented.