WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked it from destroying razor wire fencing that Texas placed along its border with Mexico to deter illegal border crossings.

       The administration asked the justices to halt a December ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibited Border Patrol agents from cutting or moving the disputed fencing while litigation plays out.

       The 5th Circuit on Dec. 19 found that a federal judge had been wrong to rule that the U.S. government was immune from a lawsuit brought by Texas that claimed a federal policy of removing the fencing was illegal.

       (Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Scott Malone)