United States President Joe Biden's administration has filed a lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a buoy barrier created to stop migrants from crossing into the US from Mexico.
The Department of Justice's (DOJ) new filing asks a federal judge in Austin to order Texas to remove the nearly 1,000-foot-long line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys. The Biden administration claims that the barrier is threatening humanitarian and environmental consequences.
Bide Files Lawsuit Against Texas
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that Texas unlawfully installed the buoy barrier without gaining permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico.
The situation is the latest development in the tensions in Texas' border security operation, including razor-wire fencing, arresting migrants on trespassing charges, and sending busloads of asylum-seekers to Democratic-controlled areas in other states.
For some time, critics have questioned the effectiveness of the state's two-year operation, which is known as Operation Lone Star. Earlier this month, a state trooper shared his account of the situation, saying that some measures caused injuries to migrants, putting the mission under new scrutiny, as per the Associated Press.
Abbott sent a letter on Monday to Biden where he defended his state's right to install the barrier. He then accused the Democratic president of putting migrants' lives at risk by not doing more to prevent them from making the dangerous travel to the United States, saying, "Texas will see you in court, Mr. President."
On the other hand, the Biden administration has repeatedly said that illegal border crossings have significantly dropped since implementing new immigration restrictions in May. A month after, the first full month since the new policies were in effect, the US Customs and Border Protection reported that migrant encounters dropped by roughly 30% compared to the previous month.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said that Abbott's policies, as a whole, have made it difficult for US Border Patrol agents to access the Rio Grande. She added that the state's unlawful actions were not helpful and undermined what Biden has put forward and is trying to accomplish: addressing the issue at the southern border.
Buoy Barrier at the Southern Border
Last week, the DOJ warned the state of Texas that it had until a Monday deadline to work on removing the buoy barrier or risk facing a legal challenge. The document added that the buoy wall "poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River," according to the Los Angeles Times.
The buoy barrier has also caused blowback, including from within Texas and after the state trooper's revelations that revealed officers were denying migrants water while they were in 100F heat and were allegedly told to push migrant children into the river.
A spokesperson for the White House argued that the Texas governor's behavior was making it more difficult for border patrol personnel to secure the border properly and was placing both migrants and agents in danger, said The Guardian.
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