Supreme Court extends stay on controversial Texas immigration law [Video]

The U.S. Supreme Court has extended a stay on Texas’ practice of arresting people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border to enter the country illegally.

In an order released Monday, the court said the hold would continue “pending further order” from the justices.

The nation’s highest court put the law on pause over a lawsuit led by the Justice Department, which argues that Texas is overstepping the federal government’s immigration authority. Under the law, any police officer in Texas could arrest migrants for illegal entry and a judge could order them to leave the U.S.

Before it was stayed, the law was scheduled to take effect Monday at 5 p.m. ET.

A federal judge in Texas blocked the law in a sweeping rejection last month, calling it a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Texas swiftly appealed the ruling and argued that it has a right to take action over what Abbott has described as an …