The Supreme Court has barred Texas from implementing a state law that was set to take effect Monday and would have allowed state police to arrest immigrants on state, not federal charges, if they illegally enter the United States from Mexico.

The court ruled Monday evening to continue a temporary hold that was initially issued on March 4, two weeks before the law was set to begin.

“Upon further consideration of the application of counsel for the applicants, the response, and the reply filed thereto, it is ordered that the stay issued on March 4, 2024, is hereby extended pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court,” Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., wrote in the order.

S.B. 4 was signed into law in December 2023 and allows state police to arrest people on immigration charges, an authority that until now was only available to federal police because immigration violations are dictated by federal law, not state law.

It also allows local judges to order someone in custody to be deported outside the United States.

This second S.B. 4 was slated to take effect in March, but the Biden Justice Department sued in early January, delaying its start.

Texas was also sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights project on behalf of the Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, American Gateway, and El Paso County in Texas.

The two lawsuits were merged into one.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra temporarily blocked the law from taking effect on Feb. 29 on the basis that it was unconstitutional to allow non-federal police to carry out a task that mirror federal law.

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Texas appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, forcing the Supreme Court to make the final decision.

The Supreme Court did not provide a date by which they will issue a final decision.