The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Texas’ buoy barriers in the Rio Grande can remain in place.
Specifically, Wednesday’s ruling nullified an injunction that ordered the state to remove the buoy barriers from the river. The barricades repel illegal and sometimes dangerous water crossings into the United States.
“The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Texas’s favor, finding that the federal district court abused its discretion when it ordered Texas to remove the buoys floating in the Rio Grande that prevent aliens from attempting a dangerous river crossing to enter America illegally,” said Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“The buoys can remain in the river. I will continue to defend Texas’s right to protect its border from illegal immigration,” Paxton added.
In early June 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that border buoy barriers would be deployed in the Rio Grande to assist in repelling illegal border crossings into the U.S. In response, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas—arguing that the state had flouted federal immigration law and demanded that Texas remove the border barriers.
A federal district court granted the Biden administration’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and the border barriers were ordered to be removed. A panel of judges from the Fifth Circuit also issued a split decision supporting the order. Yet, in January of this year, Paxton secured an en banc rehearing by the full Fifth Circuit.
Now, the Fifth Circuit has ruled the district court misapplied the law in granting the preliminary injunction and that it abused the authority of the lower courts.
The buoy barriers will remain as the case continues through the courts.
“The Fifth Circuit last night delivered a victory for Texas’ historic border security mission by ruling that our floating marine barriers can stay in the Rio Grande River,” Gov. Greg Abbott stated today. “Last year, Texas installed these barriers to deny dangerous and illegal river crossings, and almost immediately, the Biden-Harris Administration sued to remove them and obstruct our efforts to secure our border.”
“We fought to keep these barriers in the water, and with the Fifth Circuit’s decision, that is exactly where they will remain,” Abbott continued. “This fight is far from over. Texas will continue to defend our constitutional right to secure our southern border to keep our state and the nation safe.”
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