A legal victory was achieved by Texas as a U.S. appeals court ruled in favor of maintaining a 1,000-foot (300-meter) floating barrier in the Rio Grande.
The barrier, aimed at deterring illegal border crossings, was challenged by President Joe Biden’s administration, which called it an unlawful intrusion on federal immigration policy.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a preliminary injunction from a lower court, which had required Texas to relocate the buoy barrier. This ruling allows Texas to keep the barrier in place while the Biden administration’s lawsuit accusing the state of violating U.S. environmental law proceeds.
Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republicans, celebrated the decision as a triumph against federal overreach. Abbott, who has been vocal about his opposition to Biden’s immigration policies, took to social media to declare, “I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay. JUSTICE!!!!”
The barrier is a key component of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a broader initiative to curb illegal border crossings. This operation includes other measures like placing razor-wire fencing on private property along the border and enacting a state law that permits the arrest, prosecution, and deportation of individuals crossing the border illegally.
The Biden administration has faced multiple legal challenges from Republican-led states over immigration enforcement, including similar lawsuits in Iowa and Oklahoma. Judges have temporarily blocked these states’ laws, pending further legal proceedings.
The ongoing legal dispute centers on whether Texas violated a U.S. environmental law by installing the barrier without federal approval. The full 5th Circuit court, which includes a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents, found that the lower court erred in its assessment that the barrier was in a navigable section of the Rio Grande.
A trial for the Biden administration’s lawsuit against Texas is scheduled to begin next week. The White House has not yet commented on the appeals court’s decision.
