Texas becomes first state to support Trump's travel ban

Demonstrators chant as they protest anti-immigrant policies and a Muslim travel ban instituted via executive order by the Trump administration as they fill the international arrivals area at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2017, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) less Demonstrators chant as they protest anti-immigrant policies and a Muslim travel ban instituted via executive order by the Trump administration as they fill the international arrivals area at George Bush ... more Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Texas becomes first state to support Trump's travel ban 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN -- Texas became the first state in the nation to back President Donald Trump's travel ban Wednesday, throwing the state's weight behind an executive order on immigration that is now tied up in court.

Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an amicus brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday in support of the U.S. Department of Justice.

"The law makes it very clear that the president has discretion to protect the safety of the American people and our nation's institutions with respect to who can come into this country," Paxton said in a statement.

The brief follows court wrangling over the president's executive order to ban travelers from seven largely-Muslim nations from entering the United States. The courts have put a temporary hold on the president's ban.