WASHINGTON • The Trump administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to enforce a new policy of denying asylum to those who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, a change that lower courts have declared likely illegal.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled 2 to 1 Friday that the policy was an end-around specific language in federal law that allows all who enter the United States, regardless of where, to apply for asylum. The panel upheld a stay on the new policy that had been entered by a district judge.

“Just as we may not, as we are often reminded, ‘legislate from the bench,’ neither may the Executive legislate from the Oval Office,” wrote Circuit Judge Jay Bybee.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco said in an application to Justice Elena Kagan that the presidential proclamation was intended to “address an ongoing crisis at the southern border, with significant implications for ongoing diplomatic negotiations and foreign relations.” Kagan is the justice designated to deal with 9th Circuit emergency matters.

But lower courts said the law doesn’t allow the president to make such a change.