The United States Supreme Court has temporarily blocked this Monday, in response to a request from the Joe Biden Administration, the controversial immigration law of the state of Texas that allows security forces to arrest migrants entering from Mexico.

Judge Samuel Alito has issued the administrative stay, which will block the law from taking effect until March 13. That pause will give the court a little more time to review the case. Without the lawsuit, the law would go into effect on March 10, according to US television network CNN.

The Justice Department had filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to intervene, and Attorney General Elizbeth Prelogar argued that the law would alter the “status quo that has existed between the United States and the states in the context of migration in the last 150 years”.

For his part, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has published a video showing the construction of part of a wall on the border between both countries. “Texas continues to add more border wall in Cameron County,” he announced.

“We will use every tool and strategy to secure our border until Biden fulfills his constitutional duty to reinforce the federal immigration laws already in force,” he stated through his social networks.

A federal judge in Austin, the capital of the Texas state, blocked the law, stating that the rule could open the door for each state to approve its own version of immigration laws. Instead, the Fifth US Circuit, based in New Orleans, said the rule could take effect if the Supreme Court refused to intervene.

The law enacted by Abbott in December 2023, known as SB-4, punishes crossing into the state illegally with up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. In addition, reentry was classified as a serious crime punishable by between two and 20 years in prison, depending on the migrant’s background.

This measure is another initiative by Texas to challenge Biden on immigration matters, since previously the Republican governor had already transported tens of thousands of migrants by bus to cities governed by Democrats, such as Chicago or New York. He also built a barrier of giant buoys in the Rio Grande to try to prevent migrants from crossing.