Texas border law back on hold as appeals court doubts states’ power to deport illegal immigrants

A federal appeals court cast doubt Wednesday on Texas’ stiff new immigration law that tries to create a state deportation system, with the judges suggesting it would trample on the federal government’s prerogatives. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the law on hold late Tuesday, just hours after the Supreme Court had erased its own blockade. Amid that legal whiplash, a three-judge panel of the appeals court heard oral arguments Wednesday and the members had a host of questions about how the law would work in practice. Several...