Texas suffers a defeat: Court orders the removal of buoy barriers in the Rio Grande to stop immigrants

A federal appeals court on Friday ordered Texas that remove a floating buoy barrier from the Rio Grande placed there under the direction of Republican Governor Greg Abbott to deter the crossing of undocumented immigrants.

In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s finding that buoy barriers were illegal.

The decision represents a victory for President Joe Biden’s government, which sued the state of Texas for installing the buoys in the Eagle Pass sector as part of Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star against irregular immigration.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit argued that The barrier constitutes an “obstruction to the navigable capacity” of the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo in Mexico).

For its part, the Texas government defended the installation of the buoys, arguing that it was forced to take measures on its own to “defend itself” from an “invasion” of immigrants, accusing the Democratic federal Administration of not defending the southern border. .

In the appeal, Texas said that Judge David Ezra was wrong in his conclusion issued on September 6 that the buoys represent an obstruction to the navigability of the river and that he abused his powers in ordering the removal of the buoys, arguments with those that the panel did not agree with.

Texas still has several legal avenues to pursue the case and even take the legal fight to the United States Supreme Court.

The buoys caused the Mexican government to ask the US on several occasions to remove the barrier, claiming that Most of the buoys were in Mexican territory.

The International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational entity, corroborated this statement in a report presented to the Ezra court that concludes that the vast majority of the buoys are on the Mexican side.

Keep reading:

– Abbott and the state of Texas are sued for using buoys in the Rio Grande to stop border crossings
– Appeals court allows Texas to leave floating buoy barriers on the Rio Grande for now
– Republican Greg Abbott is winning in cuts: spiked buoys stay in Rio Grande… for now