US appeals court allows part of Texas law to punish sanctuary cities

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday gave a mixed decision on a Texas lawto punish "sanctuary cities" by allowing a few parts of the law to take effect but blocking major parts of the legislation.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed the part of the Texas law that called on localities to abide by detainer requests from federal authorities for those in custody but left in place a lower court decision to block a part of the law that would punish local officials who criticized state policies on immigration enforcement.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by James Dalgleish)