An appellate court is allowing Texas’ contentious immigration law making illegal entry a state crime to go into effect at the end of this week unless the Supreme Court intervenes. Late Monday, the Department of Justice formally asked the Supreme Court to intervene and block the lower court ruling.

Texas’ Senate Bill 4, which allows state law enforcement to arrest migrants and state judges to deport them, has been the subject of a months-long feud between Texas and the Biden administration. 

On Thursday, a federal district judge in Texas, David Ezra, halted the legislation from going into effect on March 5, citing constitutional concerns over it. Texas appealed the decision and on Saturday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on the lower court’s decision, allowing Texas’ law to go into effect on March 9 unless the Supreme Court intervenes. 

Immigration has taken a central focus in the upcoming presidential election, with the two expected frontrunners — President Trump and President Biden — both visiting the border last week. Meanwhile, recent migrant crime against police in New York City and the death of a Georgia nursing student have sparked demands for tighter border security and a crackdown on illegal entry. 

The Biden administration has been fighting Texas’ law, arguing that federal immigration matters are in the federal government’s purview as it cites a 2012 Supreme Court in Arizona v. United States. Governor Abbott, for his part, has argued that Texas is being invaded by an influx of migrants that the Biden administration has let in through the borders, and says he has a constitutional right and duty to defend his state. 

The district court last week signaled that it agreed with some of the Biden administration’s arguments, citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and Supreme Court precedent, as the Sun reported. The order noted that “states may not exercise immigration enforcement power except as authorized by the federal government” and expressed doubt about some of Texas’ claims, noting that immigration surges are not an invasion. 

Yet Mr. Abbott has noted that the thousands of migrants he has bused to sanctuary cities — overwhelming Chicago, New York City, and Denver — are a fraction of what Texas and other border states have been facing. He has repeatedly promised to use every tool available to him — including adding razor wire barriers along the border, building a wall, and deploying the National Guard — to protect Texas, which he says is “on the frontlines of the border crisis Joe Biden’s negligence created.”

After the appellate decision, Mr. Abbott wrote on X that “law enforcement officers in Texas are now authorized to arrest and jail any illegal immigrants crossing the border,” later adding that this will be the case unless the Supreme Court intervenes by this Saturday.