Current:Home > FinanceCourt orders Texas to move floating buoy barrier that drew backlash from Mexico -PureWealth Academy
Court orders Texas to move floating buoy barrier that drew backlash from Mexico
View
Date:2025-04-18 05:11:09
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Texas must move a floating barrier on the Rio Grande that drew backlash from Mexico, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, dealing a blow to one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s aggressive measures aimed at stopping migrants from entering the U.S. illegally.
The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requires Texas to stop any work on the roughly 1,000-foot (300-meter) barrier and move it to the riverbank. The order sided with a lower court decision in September that Abbott called “incorrect” and had predicted would be overturned.
Instead, the New Orleans-based court handed Texas its second legal defeat this week over its border operations. On Wednesday, a federal judge allowed U.S. Border Patrol agents to continue cutting razor wire the state installed along the riverbank, despite the protests of Texas officials.
For months, Texas has asserted that parts of the Rio Grande are not subject to federal laws protecting navigable waters. But the judges said the lower court correctly sided with the Biden administration.
“It considered the threat to navigation and federal government operations on the Rio Grande, as well as the potential threat to human life the floating barrier created,” Judge Dana Douglas wrote in the opinion.
Abbott called the decision “clearly wrong” in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, and said the state would immediately seek a rehearing from the court.
“We’ll go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Biden’s open borders,” Abbott posted.
The Biden administration sued Abbott over the linked and anchored buoys — which stretch roughly the length of three soccer fields — after the state installed the barrier along the international border with Mexico. The buoys are between the Texas border city of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
Thousands of people were crossing into the U.S. illegally through the area when the barrier was installed. The lower district court ordered the state to move the barriers in September, but Texas’ appeal temporarily delayed that order from taking effect.
The Biden administration sued under what is known as the the Rivers and Harbors Act, a law that protects navigable waters.
In a dissent, Judge Don Willet, an appointee of former President Donald Trump and a former Texas Supreme Court justice, said the order to move the barriers won’t dissolve any tensions that the Biden administration said have been ramping up between the U.S. and Mexico governments.
“If the district court credited the United States’ allegations of harm, then it should have ordered the barrier to be not just moved but removed,” Willet wrote. “Only complete removal would eliminate the “construction and presence” of the barrier and meet Mexico’s demands.”
Nearly 400,000 people tried to enter the U.S. through the section of the southwest border that includes Eagle Pass last fiscal year.
In the lower court’s decision, U.S. District Judge David Ezra cast doubt on Texas’ rationale for the barrier. He wrote at the time that the state produced no “credible evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration.”
Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately comment.
veryGood! (46)
Related
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended war crimes charges in Israel-Hamas war
- Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. will drive pace for 2024 Indianapolis 500
- Armed robbers hit luxury store in Paris reported to be Jeweler to the Stars
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Mexican and Guatemalan presidents meet at border to discuss migration, security and development
- Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says many campus protesters don't know much of that history from Middle East
- Top Democrat calls for Biden to replace FDIC chairman to fix agency’s ‘toxic culture’
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Eminem's Daughter Hailie Jade Marries Evan McClintock With Her Dad By Her Side
Ranking
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- 3 killed, 3 others wounded following 'chaotic' shooting in Ohio; suspect at large
- Surprise grizzly attack prompts closure of a mountain in Grand Teton
- Psst! Pottery Barn’s Memorial Day Sale Has Hundreds of Items up to 50% Off, With Homeware Starting at $4
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Billionaire rains cash on UMass graduates to tune of $1,000 each, but says they must give half away
- Target to cut prices on 5,000 products in bid to lure cash-strapped customers
- Drake Bell Details “Gruesome” Abuse While Reflecting on Quiet on Set Docuseries
Recommendation
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
Xander Schauffele gets validation and records with one memorable putt at PGA Championship
Kennesaw State University student fatally shot in front of residence hall; suspect charged
Fly Stress-Free with These Airplane Travel Essentials for Kids & Babies
'Most Whopper
Drone pilot can’t offer mapping without North Carolina surveyor’s license, court says
Why a Roth IRA or 401(k) may be a better choice for retirement savings
Pride House on Seine River barge is inaugurated by Paris Olympics organizers