Court clears way for Texas to enforce migrant arrest law

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May 29 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for Texas authorities to enforce key parts of a law that would ?allow state officials to arrest and deport people suspected of having illegally crossed ?the U.S.-Mexico border.

A 2-1 panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an order ?put on hold an injunction a federal judge had issued on May 14 in a class-action lawsuit filed by civil rights advocates on behalf of thousands of people who could be subject to the law's provisions.

Austin-based U.S. District Judge David Ezra had issued the injunction after concluding ?the state law improperly challenged the ?federal government's long-held power to control immigration, naturalization and deportations.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for a seat in the ?U.S. Senate, quickly appealed, leading to Friday's order.

The groups representing the plaintiffs -- the American Civil Liberties Union, its Texas affiliate and the Texas Civil Rights Project -- in a joint statement called Friday's ruling ?disappointing ?and said they "will continue to fight against this ?abhorrent and blatantly illegal law."

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