A federal judge has ordered Texas to move the buoy barriers in the middle of the Rio Grande River to a dam on the state's side of the river.
On Wednesday, US District Court Judge David Ezra issued the preliminary injunction in Austin that mandates Texas authorities to relocate the floating obstructions. They are currently located near the city of Eagle Pass. The deadline for the relocation has been set to Sept. 15, and the order is siding with the Biden administration.
Texas Buoy Barriers
It comes after United States President Joe Biden's administration filed a legal challenge claiming that the buoy barriers were illegally disrupting navigation and installed without permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The federal judge's ruling is seen as a setback for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who has argued that Biden, a Democrat, has been too lenient with border security. The claim comes as record numbers of migrants have been caught trying to illegally cross the border in the last few years, as per Reuters.
The floating buoys were one of the various strategies that Abbott's administration launched amid efforts to deter migrants from crossing into the United States. Other strategies include coils of razor that were placed along the riverbank.
In a 42-page order, Ezra said that Abbott announced that he would not ask for permission for Operation Lone Star, the anti-immigration program under which the buoy barriers were placed in Texas. He added that, unfortunately, the state needed permission to install such obstructions in the navigable waters of the US.
The state of Texas, following the ruling, immediately appealed it to the conservative-leaning 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Additionally, Abbott's office said it would take the case to the Supreme Court if needed.
According to CNN, the lawsuit that led to the federal judge's decision was filed by the Justice Department, which argued that Texas and its governor violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act when the buoy barriers were installed in the Rio Grande River.
Deterring Migrants From Illegal Crossing
The Justice Department also sought an injunction to bar Texas from building additional barriers in the river. This comes despite Abbott arguing that the buoy barriers were designed to deter migrants from crossing the river into the United States from Mexico.
In a statement, Abbott's office said that the federal judge's ruling was incorrect, adding that they will continue to utilize every strategy to secure the border, including the deployment of the Texas National Guard's soldiers and the Department of Public Safety's troopers as well as the installation of strategic barriers.
On the other hand, associate US Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Justice Department said they were pleased with the federal judge's ruling. She argued that the buoy barriers were unlawful and caused irreparable harm to diplomatic relations, public safety, navigation, and the operations of federal agency officials in and around the Rio Grande, said the Dallas Morning News.
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