Supreme Court temporarily BLOCKS Texas from enacting new law that would allow cops to arrest and detain suspected illegal immigrants

Supreme Court justices have temporarily blocked a new Texas law which would permit law enforcement officers to arrest and detail suspected illegal immigrants.

Monday's freeze, known as an administrative hold, was issued by conservative Justice Samuel Alito.

It postpones the law - titled SB 4 - from taking effect until March 13 - three days later than it was originally scheduled to begin. 

The freeze does not give any indication as to how the court's nine justices - six conservative and three liberal -  would ultimately rule on the law. 

Migrants arrive at the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, on March 4. The Lone Star State has been temporarily banned from enacting a new law that would let its law enforcement officers arrest suspected illegal migrants 

The freeze on Texas' law SB 4 was enacted by conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (pictured bottom row second from right, in group shot with his fellow justices)

Texas' Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed the law in December, as the Lone Star State continues to be at the forefront of the worsening migrant crisis.

He did so in a bid to deter border crossers from making the journey across the Rio Grande river and into Texas.

SB 4 would make illegally crossing the border into Texas a Class B misdemeanor, with anyone convicted facing up to six months in jail.

Repeat offenders could find themselves charged with a second-degree felony and face 20 years behind bars, the Texas Tribune reported.  

Last week, a federal judge in Austin - Texas' state capital - blocked SB 4 from being enacted.

US District Judge David Ezra said the law 'threatens the fundamental notion that the United States must regulate immigration with one voice.'

An appeals court in Louisiana subsequently reinstated the law, but the Supreme Court has now frozen it once again.  

Texas' Republican Governor Greg Abbott, pictured, enacted the new law in a bid to deter migrants from crossing into the Lone Star State illegally 

The Biden administration has condemned the law, with the Justice Department claiming it would fundamentally alter a longstanding status quo that lets federal agents deal with illegal migrants.

Supporters of the bill say urgent action is needed to crack down on illegal immigration.

More than 3.2 million were intercepted last year - the vast majority along the southern border, with the surge showing no signs of abating.

Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling, and fear many of the Hispanic Americans who make up 40 percent of Texas' population could face suspicion or even wrongful detention.

Gov. Abbott has been credited with forcing Democrats into a more hardline stance on illegal immigration over the last year.

He has bused and flown more than 100,000 migrants to Democrat-run sanctuary cities, which offer additional legal protections to illegal migrants.

The huge strain on services in cities including New York, Chicago and Denver has fermented anger even among liberal voters - and led to calls for a  crackdown on illegal immigration.