Texas beats Biden Administration in court, border wall construction to continue

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — As the Biden Administration winds down, actions taken by Texas concerning the southern border are ramping up.

On Thursday, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced what he says is a final victory in the ongoing legal dispute over construction of the border wall.

Earlier this year, a federal district court granted a permanent injunction to end the Administration’s effort to defund the border wall. The Biden Administration allowed the sixty-day appeal window to expire on July 29, 2024, and the permanent injunction remains in place.

“This is a final victory against Biden’s attempt to defund the border wall. His Administration illegally sought to prevent the construction of the border wall and illegally attempted to repurpose the money allocated for American safety and sovereignty, working instead to keep the border open,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I sued and won to stop their unlawful scheme. Now, the Administration has thrown in the towel by declining to appeal their defeat and will be legally required to build the wall.”

Texas sued the Biden Administration under the Administrative Procedure Act, arguing that Biden violated the Consolidated Appropriations Act and asking the court to require the Biden Administration to follow the law and use the appropriated money for the purpose Congress directed.

At the urging of President Donald Trump, Congress dedicated roughly $1.4 billion to the construction of walls and barriers along the southern border in order to reduce the number of illegal aliens entering the country in 2019 and 2020. Immediately upon taking office, President Biden issued an executive order stopping border wall construction and directing the Department of Homeland Security to devise a way to redirect the funds.

On Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the floating barrier Texas deployed in the Rio Grande last year to deter illegal migration could remain.