Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott is celebrating a legal victory following a ruling by a federal appellate court allowing the Lone Star State to keep using its floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River to deter illegal immigrants from crossing into the US.
On Tuesday, July 30, the Biden administration suffered a heavy blow from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which blocked their attempt to force Texas to remove a floating barrier used to stop illegal immigration.
The barrier was installed by Abbott in 2023 as part of Operation Lone Star and instantly stirred backlash from Democrats who accused the governor of putting people in danger as well as harming the environment. A few months after installing the 1,000-foot barrier made of buoys and an attached mesh net, a federal judge in Austin tried to have it removed before a higher court sided with Abbott’s plan.
The latest development in the ongoing standoff between the Texas governor and the federal government overturns a previous ruling by a panel on a lower court. US Circuit Judge Don R. Willett said that the preliminary injunction granted to the federal government to force the state to remove the buoy barrier was improperly granted. The Biden administration sued the Lone Star State over a year ago, claiming the barrier went against the Rivers and Harbors Act because Texas did not apply for a permit to install it.
One of the claims the federal government’s argument hinged on was proving that the area of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass counted as “navigable waters,” which Willett determined they failed to prove. In the ruling, he wrote that the specific stretch of river has no history of being navigable and that the federal government could not show any “reasonable improvements” that would render it as such.
Abbott celebrated the recent decision, announcing it on social media. He said the court sided with Texas and will allow the state to “keep these buoys” installed in order to secure the border. The governor said he “fought” with President Joe Biden “to keep them in the water” and that’s “where they will stay.”
