A floating barrier on the Rio Grande, meant to deter migrants from trying to cross from Mexico into Texas, can stay in place for now, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The decision by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier decision by a panel of the court. The ruling is the latest development in a standoff between Texas and President Joe Biden’s administration over immigration at the state’s border with Mexico.
Last December, a divided Fifth Circuit panel sided with a federal district judge in Texas when he said the buoys should be removed. The full appeals court said this week that the court then abused its discretion in granting the preliminary injunction.
Demand on the way
The broader lawsuit in district court is scheduled for trial to begin on August 6. The Biden administration is accusing Texas of violating the federal Rivers and Harbors Act. On the sensitive issue, Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general, said Texas “violated federal law” and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy.
The group of connected, concrete-anchored buoys stretches the length of three football fields at one of the busiest spots for illegal border crossings. The state installed it along the international border with Mexico between the Texas border town of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
The Justice Department had asked a federal court to order Texas to remove the buoys, arguing that the water barrier raises humanitarian and environmental concerns along the international border.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has rejected the lawsuit. He is being applauded by conservative allies eager for cases that would empower states to adopt more aggressive immigration measures.
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