Appeals court says US can’t cut Texas border wire along Rio Grande
A federal appeals court on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction limiting the Biden administration’s authority to remove razor wire built by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the state’s efforts to deter migrants from entering the United States. to enter states.
Texas has been talking to the federal government about border control on several fronts and has appealed a lower court ruling in November allowing federal agents to cut the cord.
In its ruling Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans said that while the court was weighing Texas’ appeal, the federal government did not consider the concertina wire barrier the state had installed along the Rio Grande could break through.
“Defendants are prohibited from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’ c-wire fencing during the pendency of this appeal,” the panel of judges wrote, referring to approximately 30 miles of concertina wire installed near the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas . .
But the order does allow U.S. Border Patrol agents to cut the wire in the event of a medical emergency — an exception that addresses federal government concerns that the barrier could make it difficult to provide first aid to injured people or sick migrants.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is part of a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has argued that federal agents illegally destroyed Texas property and curtailed the state’s efforts to deter migrants from entering to cross the border. .
The federal appeals court order came a day after Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation giving law enforcement officers in Texas the authority to arrest migrants entering the state from Mexico without legal authorization.
The measure passed last month during a special session of the Republican-dominated state legislature, despite objections from Democrats, immigrant rights groups and Latinx organizations. Opponents said they feared the measure would encourage racial profiling in border communities and claimed it violated the U.S. Constitution by usurping federal authority over immigration enforcement.
El Paso County and two immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to stop the law, which is expected to take effect in March. Some sheriffs along the border have expressed concern that the measure could quickly overwhelm local jails and courts.
The squabble over the Concertina Wire isn’t the only legal battle between Texas and the Biden administration over the border. Earlier this month, the same federal appeals court ordered the state of Texas to remove a barrier of floating buoys in the Rio Grande that had been installed under Governor Abbott’s orders to stop migrants. The state is contesting this ruling.
For more than two years, Mr. Abbott has been testing the legal limits of what a state can do to enforce immigration law.
Part of that strategy was expanding the use of concertina wire along the riverbank. Some migrants have been injured by the sharp wire and drownings in the river’s rapid current are becoming increasingly common.
The state has argued that the sharp fencing has helped deter border crossings and drug smuggling along border towns like Eagle Pass, which has recently seen a surge in migrants. According to Mr. Paxton’s lawsuit, border agents cut the wire at least 20 times in the first half of the year “to admit aliens illegally entering Texas through the fence gap created by CBP’s destruction of government property.” ”
Alain Delaqueriere research contributed.