Texas Governor Greg Abbott celebrated after a federal appeals court ruled a floating barrier in the Rio Grande meant to discourage migrants from crossing into the state can remain.
The ruling will permit the state to maintain a floating river barrier along the Mexico border for now. The barrier can remain in place while a lower court considers the case against it.
The ruling by the 5th Circuit appeals court on July 30 dealt a blow to the Biden administration’s attempt to remove the floating barrier placed there by the state of Texas.
Former President Donald Trump talks with Texas Governor Greg Abbott during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border at Shelby Park, Thursday, February 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Abbott has celebrated a legal victory over barriers in the Rio Grande.
AP/Eric Gay
It represents the latest development in a standoff between Abbott and President Joe Biden over immigration policy on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Abbott said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “The Federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just ruled that Texas can keep these buoys in the water, securing our border. Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay.”
The Federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just ruled that Texas can KEEP these buoys in the water securing our border.
Biden tried to remove them.
I fought to keep them in the water.
That is exactly where they will stay.
JUSTICE!!!! https://t.co/IlzttmnOVr
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX)
The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous decision by a panel of the court.
A Trump-era appointee, U.S. Circuit Judge Don R. Willett, said the lower court improperly granted the federal government a preliminary injunction forcing Texas to remove the barrier.
The federal government sued Texas in June 2023 over the buoys, arguing that the barrier violated the Rivers and Harbors Act as the state did not obtain a permit to construct the barrier without permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A key question in the case has been whether the 1,000-foot-long string of buoys near Eagle Pass, Texas, was placed in navigable waters.
A New Orleans-based appeals court previously upheld the lower court’s injunction. However, the state petitioned for another case hearing.
Willett, along with eight other judges appointed by GOP presidents, found that the federal government had failed to show that the stretch of river in question was navigable.
“The United States will likely fail to prove navigability because (1) the at-issue stretch of the river likely was not historically navigable, and (2) the United States has not shown that there are likely reasonable improvements that could render the river navigable,” Willett wrote.
In December, a divided panel of the 5th Circuit sided with a federal district judge in Texas who said the buoys must be moved. The appeals court said the court abused its discretion in granting the preliminary injunction.
A lawsuit in district court is set for a trial in August, where the Biden administration accuses Texas of violating the federal Rivers and Harbor Act.
Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general, told The Associated Press that Texas “flouted federal law” and risked damaging U.S. foreign policy.
The state installed concrete-anchored buoys between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, in one of the busiest hotspots for illegal border crossings.
According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Texas experienced the highest number of crossings overall, as 1,399,790 migrants attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico in 2022, compared to 1,115,906 in 2021. Texas faces major challenges in deterring unlawful entry into the U.S. due to its extensive border with Mexico.
The floating barriers are intended to prevent migrants from illegally entering the country. The state of Texas has a 1,200-mile border with Mexico.
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