Texas can keep a 1,000-foot (300-meter) floating barrier in the Rio Grande to deter illegal border crossings by migrants, a U.S. appeals court ruled, rejecting a challenge by President Joe Biden’s administration.
On Wednesday, the full New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a preliminary injunction granted by a lower court, which had required Texas to move the string of wrecking ball-sized buoys placed in a shallow area of the river.
This ruling is a victory for Republican Texas officials, including Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, and a setback for the Biden administration, which is engaged in several legal battles with Texas and other Republican-led states over their efforts to curb illegal border crossings. The administration has argued that state actions constitute an unlawful intrusion on federal authority to set immigration policy.
The 5th Circuit’s decision allows Texas to keep the barrier pending the outcome of the Biden administration’s lawsuit accusing the state of violating U.S. environmental law. Abbott criticized Biden for attempting to force the removal of the buoys and celebrated the decision on social media, stating, “I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay. JUSTICE!!!!”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In April, Texas-based U.S. District Judge David Ezra refused to dismiss the lawsuit and directed Texas to move the barrier to the U.S. side of the river pending the outcome of the trial, which is scheduled to start next week. The lawsuit claims Texas violated U.S. environmental law, which requires states to receive federal approval before building obstructions in navigable waters. Ferries and some government vessels operate near the shallow, rocky area of the Rio Grande where Texas installed the barrier, according to court filings.
The full 5th Circuit agreed to hear the case after a divided three-judge panel sided with the Biden administration in December. Although twelve of the court’s seventeen active judges are Republican appointees, two of the three judges on that panel were appointed by Democrats. In Wednesday’s opinion, the full 5th Circuit stated that the lower court “clearly erred in finding that the United States will likely prove that the barrier is in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande.”
The floating barrier is part of Abbott’s broader effort to deter and punish illegal border crossings, known as Operation Lone Star. Texas is also involved in legal battles over its placement of razor-wire fencing on private property along the border and a law passed last year authorizing state officials to arrest, prosecute, and deport people who cross the border illegally. The Biden administration has also sued Iowa and Oklahoma for passing similar laws, arguing that they interfere with federal enforcement of U.S immigration laws. Judges have blocked all three states’ laws pending the outcome of the lawsuits.
Republicans, favoring a hardline approach toward illegal immigration, have criticized Biden’s policies as lax and accused him of allowing a crisis to worsen along the U.S.-Mexican border.
