CNN —An attorney defending Texas’ controversial immigration law told a federal appeals court on Wednesday that state legislators may have gone “too far” when they passed the law last year. The law, known as SB4, makes entering Texas illegally a state crime and allows state judges to order immigrants to be deported. Nielson sought to downplay how sweeping the law was and argued it did not interfere with federal authority on immigration. An attorney for the Justice Department, which brought one of the lawsuits challenging the Texas statute, urged the appeals court not to depart from its previous ruling blocking the law. “Of course, we know that presidents come and go, and different administrations might very well enforce federal law differently,” he said, arguing that the law may not be necessary under a different presidential administration.

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Persons: Aaron Nielson, Nielson, ” Nielson, Priscilla Richman, Nielson’s, Daniel Tenny, Judge Andrew Oldham, “, they’ve, ”, “ It’s, Biden, Richman Organizations: CNN, Texas, Texas Attorney, Justice Department, United States, US Locations: Texas, United States, United, El Paso County